Coming of the Ancients
by Shadowz081
Summary: Centuries after the end of the great war, the UNSC and Neo-covenant now live in peace, but what happens when they discover not just one but two splinter fraction of humans? The System Alliance and their Citadel and Prehistoric humanity and their old allies. But with their welcoming appearance, so will ancient threats loom around the corner ready to wage war...
1. Prolouge: Minutes to Midnight

**Disclaimer: Contents of Halo belongs to Bungie/343 industries while Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and any starcraft reference made belongs to Blizzard. Anything else that you recognise from games, movies, shows, etc belong to their respective makers, while I hold rights to all OCs.**

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**This publication is just a 'Beta' of some sort to gain feedback of a potential story of a Halo/ME crossover (obviously) that I have been thinking off for a while. So all in all this is just a rough draft, so please ignore inconsistency, 'awkwardness' in sentence structuring and errors, or actually better yet, point them out so I can change them. There will also be reference from other games incorporated into this story as well, mainly from Starcraft. Also as a pre-warning, if you will, there will no mention of anything mass effect related in the prologue.  
**_**Slight spoiler if you continue to read.**_**  
And finally to avoid any future confusion if the story does go on there will be THREE human fractions, with one being System Alliance, one being the UNSC and the last being prehistoric humanity(As no one wrote a story on them yet.)  
Enjoy.**

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**Prologue: Minutes to Midnight.**

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**110,000BCE: Human-Forerunner war-3 days before the fall of Charum Hakkor.  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:06:00.  
**Two humanoid figures in severely damaged armour stared each other down in a ruined city where the forerunner warrior-servants managed to land a force on it no more than a few days ago. The humans managed to respond in time, and a battle in epic proportion broke out on both ground and in space and what was once a beautiful city by both human and forerunner standards that was once home to hundreds of billions, now laid in ruin, as tens of millions corpses from both forerunner and human military laid scattered everywhere and literal rivers made of red from the corpses of both sides flowed down through cracks and crevices forming giant pools of blood. The charred burning husks of buildings and vehicles lay on the ground never to be used again and the broken hulls of destroyed ships, which once could bring awe and fear to all that gazed upon them, now forever laid to rest on the cold, tainted grounds of Charum-Hakkor, never to sail the stars again.

The human in black and slightly more bulky armour surveyed the scene around him, before sighing tiredly, his breached helmet showing an eye did nothing to keep the smoke and smell of charred flesh from his nose before his single hardened eye softened ever so slightly as he chuckled softly to himself before deactivating his twin wrist blades, his last weapons, and turned his attention to the only other living thing in the area.

This person known to both enemies and allies by the name of High Supreme Commander Sigma-018, a Dark Templar, the human black ops forces which also doubled as front line soldiers when needed and the best of the best, but his true name, given to him by his now long deceased birth parents was 'Crepusculum' which is only known to himself, a few other close friends and what remained of the top brass.

The forerunner brought her own wrist blades up ready to defend herself before the human spoke to her, "In the end, we are not so different are we, humans and forerunners…"  
She was glad that her helmet, despite being cracked and dented, was still relatively intact and hiding her face as she didn't want to this human to see her anger as he talked about as if forerunners and these little humans were equal, but yet a very tiny part of her was curious to see what he had to say so she kept silent as he continued, "I mean, if we were to take away our weapons, armours, technology, mutations, augmentations, ignore certain cultural differences and strip us down to our purest and most primal forms…There wouldn't be that much difference would there, even if we did include the physical differences…"  
The forerunner female growled out as the human said this, "There couldn't be two races more different…Despite our similar appearances, humans are no more than a rabid animal that's needs to be put down for the betterment of this galaxy…You attacked and pillaged fifty different defenceless species planets for its resources, and shortly after we have settled them as well. You claimed to be the true inheritors of the mantle, well I spit on your claims."  
The human in front of her shrugged, unaffected by her words, "Perhaps, but we had a reason for what we did, though I'll admit, my superiors could have handled it better than order an attack on those world…anyways what about yours species? The mighty forerunners who rule the galaxy through their superior technology and who dares defies them get literally wiped off the face of this galaxy, we know those planets were never their respective home worlds, we know that you moved them so you can take their planets and colonize them, making your empire easier to defend, at least humanity never control and monitor a more primitive species to make sure they don't pose a threat to our empire, let alone forcibly move them from their homes…If I'm not mistaken, interfering with a species development is also against the mantle as well…"  
The forerunner was silent as he said this, but in her mind she was seething with rage, not because he was wrong, but because he was right, her species had done that many times and committed many other sins against the mantle over their existence, before she could retort, the human continued on, "So I say again, we are not so different are we…And just like us, your race's arrogance and pride will be your fall one day."  
"Your fleets and armies lay broken and shattered, what could you possibly do against a race such as ours?"  
The human single eye from the broken visor showed amusement before answering, "Us? Nothing, we are probably days away from losing if not hours, but then again, from what experience has taught me, the universe is a vast place with many secrets some more deadly than others…And one of those secret almost destroyed us and the reasons for why this war began in the first place."  
"Than what is this oh so terrible 'secret' then, if it's not just a story conjured up from your mind."  
"Unfortunately I don't have clearance to talk about it…Maybe if you managed to capture me alive and pry it from my head before killing me than you would know it."  
The forerunner than prepared her wrist blades, "Than prepare yourself…"  
"Please, both of us can hardly move let alone fight and I know we already overused our psionic powers or we would still be fighting each other instead of talking. After hundreds if not thousands of fights with each other, it is inevitable you learn a thing or two about your opponent."  
With that the forerunner lowered her blades slightly as the human continued talking, "So with everything said and done and neither of us capable of actually killing each other without dying themselves I bid you good day Delta of the Ghosts special operation division."  
With that a slip space generated by the human armour opened up behind him, and as he was about to walk into it he turned around, "By the way, my name is Sigma, of course you probably already knew, and it has been an honour to have fought such an opponent."

With that he walked through the portal and it closed behind him leaving the forerunner alone in a once thriving human city turned graveyard. The forerunner identified as Delta stood rigid straight staring at the position the human once occupied and sighed, 'Perhaps not all humans are as aggressive and violent as we once thought…After all if I didn't know better I would have sworn I was talking to a forerunner…' Sighing again the forerunner known as Delta by many, whose true name, 'First Light of a New Dawn', known by only those she had worked with and part of the forerunner special forces whose skills and influences are said to be on par with a full rate promethean warrior-servant, opened her own slip space portal before going through it.

The slip space portal opened up in a deep underground base and as Sigma walked through he was immediately greeted by the few commanding officers of what was left of their rag tag military, "It's good to see you made it back safely supreme commander, though I really think you should have seen a medic about those wounds first." Said Lord of Admirals Forthencho, the highest ranking officer in the human navy as he looked at his subordinate armour to see it cracked and broken with blood slowly dripping out from multiple places, "As well as get a new set of armour from the armoury…"  
Sigma waved it off, "That can wait, sir, there are more pressing matters at hand…" answered Sigma in a professional tone.  
Forthencho nodded, "Of course, reports have just come in that a massive forerunner fleet is amassing just outside the system and from the looks of thing they are attacking in about two days and that the small group of eight stealth cruisers we launched a day ago have successfully made it pass the forerunner blockade and transitioned into slip space heading to Sector Centauri-192B."  
Sigma nodded, Centauri-192B was a place consisted of four star systems two hundred thousand light years outside the galaxy that the humans have managed to 'build' when the they first encountered the flood as an emergency backup area to retreat to if they ever got over ran, but now it serves as a place to smuggle humans and whatever San 'Shyuums that stayed and fought with them to avoid the forerunners after they lost. Right now the population in the sector was around three hundred million humans, with 60 million as part of the military, while the San 'Shyuums had a population of around 120million and fifteen million in the military and the naval strength there was around three thousand combat worthy vessels of various classes, along with hundreds if not thousands of various classes of stealth ships used to smuggle people from forerunner blockades and 5 forty-five kilometre long ultra-heavy dreadnaughts that could rival the forerunner own fortress class warships…A small fraction of what is left of the once millions of ship strong navy and trillions of people strong military…  
"That's good than…Anything else I should know?"  
Forthencho nodded, "The last group of twenty stealth cruisers docked on this planet will be leaving in two hours' time…"  
"With due respect sir…What has that got anything to do with me?"  
"Because, as you probably already figured it out, you are going with them to centauri-192B."  
Sigma sighed as the Lord of admirals said this, "Sorry sir, but I'm not going with them, after all they need me on this planet to hold off the next attack, though I suggest you go instead sir, they need a strong and experienced leader like you more than they need a black ops soldier like me." Though as he said this Sigma already knew full well that they won't survive the next attack, and any survivors that do will be captured and have their memory taken for study before being killed, as is the customs of the forerunner warrior-servants, but he wanted to face the forerunners one final time in combat to defend his people before passing on to the next life and not stuck on some planet in the middle of nowhere brooding.  
"That wasn't a request, High Supreme Commander Crepusculum …That was an order…"  
"Court martial me than, our military lays in ruins and on the verge of collapse, the only reason you still hold power is because we are loyal to you…"  
"I truly regret doing this but you forced my hand…Lieutenant please come in…"  
Eight fully armed and armoured Templars walked into the room and surrounded Sigma, "Eight Templars? For me? I'm flattered."  
"They will escort you to your room reserved on the stealth cruiser _Darkest Night_ do you have anything to say before you go?"  
"What if I said no?"  
Sigma turned around in time to catch a Templar's fist heading for his head as he ignore sharp bursts of pain all over his body from his wounds before feeling a sharp pain at the back of his head and his vision faded black as he collapsed towards the ground.  
The lord of admirals nodded towards the group of soldiers and they saluted before exiting as they carried the body of the knocked out dark Templar to the ship.

**Two hours 10 minutes later…**  
Sigma began to slowly open to a clean sterile room, unlike the messy, blood stained room of the once proud, now wrecked buildings and bunkers of Charum Hakkor and slowly sighed as his memory returned. He slowly sat up and looked down at his body to find angry scars all over it but no wounds, hence showing the effectiveness of human medical technology. He got out of his bed and slowly made his to a window and he stared out to see a parody of the planet they had once occupied, it's mighty fleet in the tens of thousands reduced to a few hundred battle scarred ships that looked like it could fall apart at any moment, the once green and blue planet turned into a blackened wasteland, it's once large ocean and forests now replaced by giant deserts and craters, and all that is left to signify that humans, let alone life was here in the first place was the huge orbital arches that linked to the orbital defence platforms and onto the planet surface made of unbending filaments, and the true last line of defence of the planet.  
He continued to stare at the planet as they slowly passed the forerunner blockade fleet holding position just outside the firing range of the orbital defence platforms, as the planet grew smaller and smaller and continued on even as it disappeared from view. Finally he turned away as the ship made the jump into slip space.  
As Sigma got dressed from the pile of military drabs left beside his bed he noticed a small decorated box and a small finger sized device. Picking it up he turned the device on and a hologram popped up with a short message:  
_'It has been an honour to have served alongside you…'  
-From everyone you once knew…_  
Blankly staring down at the message he tapped the screen next to see a picture of what was left of the human military command and other people he had served with and gotten to know in one room saluting at him. He stared at the picture before noticing the timestamp on the corner of the photo and chuckled lightly to himself, 'Taken when I was still on the battlefield today? That mean you bastard planned this…'  
He then turned off the projector before opening the box to find two different medals in it. The first one showed a silver planet cracked in half encrusted in a gold star lined with platinum, he has seen this before given to soldiers before they were evacuated; the Charum Hakkor campaign medal. Despite losing the war itself, the medal didn't represent the victories, that was achieved, but rather the 'last stand' of humanity and the San Shyuum in this galaxy as a galactic superpower and how they stood tall in the face of the void numerous times to turn what was supposed to be a quick defeat into a fifty years of constant warfare on one planet.  
The second one a gold cross in the back and with a silver eagle clutching Erde-Tyrene; The Legion of honour medal, awarded for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of the life of the soldier, above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against the enemies of Erde-Tyrene and her colonies.  
He closed the box and sighed, "You know all this sighing is making even me sad right…"  
A small ice blue hologram of a human male in a battle scarred Templar armour without a helmet popped on the desk in front of Sigma as he stared at the box, "I'm just wondering…Why me of all people? I mean what will I do now, caduca spes?"  
His personal Ai answered back a second later, after finding the write response, "Well…They will need someone to protect the survivors if a threat arises, and you are the leader of our best of the best…And what you will do? Well I suppose only you can answer that."  
With slight a nod of his head Sigma exited the room.

**3 Days later…**  
**Minutes of Midnight: 00:05:00  
**Charum Hakkor, the last pocket of human resistance finally falls to the forerunner after fifty years of almost constant warfare. Lord of Admirals Forthencho and the majority of the remaining commanding officers of the military were killed in battle, while the majority of the survivors either committed suicide or were executed after having their memories taken, but despite the culling of humanity, a minority was spared due to the librarian's intervention and they were devolved both technologically and genetically.

**Ten thousand years later…  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:04:00  
**G617g1, a world that the forerunner was interested in claiming at the time had a small flood infestation, after losing contact with a group sent down; they sent another research group down and shortly afterwards, lost contact with them too. Fourteen days after the disappearance, they sent a military group down and this would be the beginning of a nine hundred year conflict with the flood.

**600 Years later…**  
**Minutes to Midnight: 00:03:00  
**After six hundred years of failing to try and contain the flood with quarantine methods more suitable for diseases and plagues and not a sentient being and along with losing millions of planets, installations and ships to them, the forerunner declare all-out war against the against flood and begins to fully mobilize their fleets and armies once again after ten thousand years since the war with the humans…After they rearmed after disarming no more than a few century ago of course.

**150 Years later…**  
**Minutes to Midnight: 00:02:00  
**As the war rages on, the forerunner were slowly getting pushed back, not because of the enemy technology or combat prowess, but rather by the floods cunning and extreme population and production rates, permission was given for the master builder named Faber to begin planning the construction of twelve super weapons that would serve as a last resort against the flood if the forerunner ever found themselves in such a situation where the flood will be free to take over the galaxy. These super-weapons would be known to the rest of the galaxy of future generations as the Halo Array.

Meanwhile the human empire having successfully re-established outside of the milky way and expanded the once small four star system to a mini galaxy of one thousand-two hundred star systems from asteroids and other materials obtained from dark space, along with a naval strength of 150,000 ships strong, armies in the hundreds of billions and new and improved technology, decides to sends stealth corvettes back into their old home to assess the situation.

A few days later they discovered that the forerunners are now fighting the flood and losing, which served to worry everyone, as they didn't have the strength yet to fight the flood, especially when it was discovered the flood had developed an immunity to the 'cure', which acted more like a disease or poison, that decimated the flood population and gave them the edge thousands of years ago. Now the governing body of humanity literally face palmed at the choice of destroying all their data on the flood so the forerunner couldn't get it and leaving them unprepared, hence by extension, everyone else in the galaxy as well.  
A few weeks later, it was been decided while they would keep an eye on the war for now, humanity and the San Shyuums would also be fully mobilizing their forces while simultaneously begin creating new fleets and weapons as well as begin research into the flood and weapons once more.

**Fifty years later  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:01:00  
**Humanity fleets number just under five hundred thousand, while their armies just under six hundred billion, this number does not include the San Shyuums, who themselves hold a significantly less but still large number of military. The empire of the human-san Shyuum alliance had also expanded another ten systems in that amount of time, dedicated purely for military purposes. Stealth ships are sent out to scout and identify systems infested by flood.**  
**

**Three month later: Human-San-Shyuum alliance flagship: **_**Unyielding Guardian**_  
It was agreed by the government and military along with the support ninety five precent of the current population, with the way the war is going and the amount of systems under flood control that it was time that they reveal themselves once more to wage war not against, but with the forerunner against the flood threat. Right now Admiral Virtus, an 'old generation' human, who fought in the war against both flood and forerunner, stood on the bridge of the new ship designed by both human and San Shyuum created specifically for warfare against the flood. This ship is a _tempest_ class ultra-heavy dreadnaught measuring at 150km in length and filled to the brim with weapons, these ship even dwarves the forerunner newly redesigned fortress class warship which measured at a 100km in length themselves, and he had another three of these ships in the fleet not including the one he was currently on along with another seven thousand ships of various classes, all larger than a km in length floating in formation.  
With a single thought the armour he was wearing open a COM inside his helmet, "Pathfinder _Hidden Intent_ is everything prepared?"  
"Yes sir, beacons have been dropped behind flood controlled slip space jammers. You have a back door sir."  
As he said this, a green light blinked on in his helmet telling him everything is prepared, "Copy pathfinder, OPERATION: TEMPESTAS RAPIDUS is a go."  
As he said this, the ship AI coordinated with other ship AIs and the fleet all entered slip-space simultaneously.

**Seven hours twenty minutes since fleet jumped…**  
On the other side, a 'Pathfinder' class stealth corvette, whose primary mission is to scout, disrupt, sabotage and gather information, was parked in orbit over a forerunner core world called 'Luminous Hymn'. It was home to the forerunner third largest shipyard, as well as an economic powerhouse. Before the flood came, it had a population just under two trillion as well as a garrison of over a billion warrior-servants and a fleet of three thousand ships. About ten hours ago, they had been complaining about a malfunction of the long range slip-space sensor on the edge of the system, and so they sent a fleet of five hundred ships to investigate fearing it was the flood. But unfortunately it was the flood, and the moment they jumped out, the flood jumped in with eight thousand captured warships and twenty thousand civilian crafts and deployed slip-space and teleportation jammers over the planet. Caught with their proverbial pants down, the flood took advantage of the confusion by crashing infected civilian crafts on most of the orbital defence platforms, while a majority crashed on the planet as well as on a few ships and their warships opened fire. It was basically slaughter for the forerunner who managed to get out a distress signal before that was jammed as well. But fortunately the pathfinders were equipped to deal with such jammers and managed to send a communique back to FLEETCOM. They replied by telling him to drop a slip-space beacon that would allow ships to jump in ignoring the jammers and to wait, observe and report. That was what the crew of _Hidden intent_ did, they watched as what was left of the uninfected forerunner fleet over the planet vainly attempt to fight back against the overwhelming numbers, watched as their forerunner reinforcement were slaughtered by flood reinforcement, as much as it pained them to remember the time when the forerunner would mercilessly kill any human, it pained them even more, especially the old generations who still remember that war, to watch the flood free again after all their efforts and sacrifices they made to contain, now free to destroy this place that they once called home again.  
"Sir! Detecting thousands of slip-space ruptures. IFF matches with that of the Fleet of Righteous Glory!"  
The captain nodded his armoured head, "Very well, detonate Anti-matter mines mixed in the flood fleet."  
The officer nodded and with a press of a button on the holo-screen, fifty small suns appeared throughout the flood fleet destroying of disabling a fifth of it.

**On the surface.**  
Ten thousand years after the human empire fell, **Delta**, found her race encountering the flood, the 'secret' threat that humanity found themselves pitted against. She learnt about it after they won the war, from memories acquired from survivors who still remember the horrors of the flood and from what little information the human archives still had on them. Though they didn't learn much about it, they did learn that it pushed the civilizations of both humanity and San Shyuum to the brink and made them desperate and in their desperation, it made them cruel, which in turn made them attack forerunner territory and did what they did to merely survive. Many of the warrior-servants became speechless, including the didact himself when they found out about that missing piece of information. But they themselves and the forerunner ecumene council believed all of it to be an exaggeration of the actual events that took place, but now having personally witness the parasite for themselves, most if not all of them agree that statement to be false. She sighed again before killing 3 promethean combat forms rushing her, she and many others truly regretted what they did to the humans and San Shyuums after that discovery, if they came out and said that they needed help because of the flood instead of attacking, than things might have been different, but the humans didn't and that was beyond her comprehension of why they didn't.  
She was not stupid, this planet had long ago fallen, especially with the flood surprise attack and blockading the planet like what the forerunners did to Charum Hakkor during the ending days of the war, they now had no means of escape or reinforcement, it was just hold out as long as possible and kill as much of these abominations as possible before turning into one of them, she shivered at the last thought. As she was shooting flood after flood, her Ancilla in her armour than spoke up, "Multiple slip-space ruptures detected around the planet."  
"Great…More flood reinforcements…"  
"Negative, IFF matches neither forerunner nor flood and ruptures are created from unknown origins."  
Before she could respond, five giant sphere of black appeared inside the planet's atmosphere and five ten km ships with familiar general design schematics came through and began releasing its cargo of fighters and mech suits as well as small pods, in deployment methods which was terrifyingly familiar to the humans, and almost immediately the ships and fighters of the newly arrived combatants began engaging the flood instead of forerunner and she released a breath she didn't know she was holding and began shooting flood again along with a small team of warrior-servants she rescued earlier, all the while listening to the com chatter of these 'unknowns' pushing back the flood. A few minutes later one of the ten km long ship flew overhead and released another wave of pods and fighters and one of the pods crashed twenty meters beside her and her group, a second later, the pod opened and the occupant climbed out with a rifle in hand and what seemed to be a heavy weapon on his back before looking at her group and began jogging towards them. He held up his hand showing non-hostility as they pointed their weapons at him, "Who are you?" ask someone from her group.  
"A group of people your kind tried to kill off a long time ago and failed." He answered back in their language, obviously they had been studying them for a while and she frowned at that, also the voice sounded familiar.  
Before anyone could respond they heard a howl and a platoon of flood infected forerunner combat forms came hurtling towards their position, before they were disintegrated by a missile from an unknown fighter.  
"Thanks for the assist Aurora-actual…"  
She looked at the unknown person before her as he said this, "Who are you really and no vague answers."  
He just stared at her and shrugged, "Well if you and your group can promise not to try and kill me because I'm really not in the mood to be fighting you at the moment and it will probably start a war between us..."  
"Don't worry we won't, unless you become a threat."  
The person shrugged, "Well Delta, if you are asking for my race, I'm human, if you are asking for military branch; I'm Dark Templar, if you are asking for rank, I'm a High Supreme Commander and if you are asking for my name…well…you may call me Sigma…"  
The group just stared blankly at him before he spoke up again, "Well as much as I like awkward situations, I suggest we get going, after all I'm supposed to meet up with the rest of the forces to set up HQ in your government building where all your forces and civilians are, so unless you have something better to do, we are just wasting time here."  
And so they moved out clearing out flood along the way and rescuing shell shocked forerunner survivors and joining up with human forces. For the first time in history, humans and forerunner were working peacefully with one another against a common enemy.

**As the war continues…  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:00:30  
**When the San Shyuums and humans revealed themselves along with the intention of help fight against the flood, they were welcomed with opened arms by most of the forerunners fighting, but little did they know, it was already too late for them. At first everything seemed to be going well, the extra boost in troops and resources allowed the forerunners a bit of a breather and together they began pushing the flood back, but after a while, when the flood regained its bearings and adapted to the strategies of the humans and San Shyuums their progress was slowed considerably.

Set back after set back…Loss after loss; the flood for a time forced the new forerunner-human-san-Shyuum alliance into a stalemate until it was decided that a new type of AI dubbed the 'Contender-class AI' was to be created from the combined technological might of the three races to directly fight the gravemind, the AI called himself '05-032 Mendicant Bias', the top of the line military AI/Ancilla for the three races. But after the test firing of the first Halo ring on the old human-San-Shyuum capital of Charum Hakkor, did the forerunner unwittingly release an old prisoner from the planet that the planet's old occupants tried to keep contained, much to their ire. The worse thing that happened was the disappearance of both halo rings and Mendicant Bias along with the prisoner. Fearing the worst, the humans and San-Shyuums begin to increase ship and weapon production as well as refining their slip-space drives for extra galactic travel should the worst come.

Than the worst happened, Mendicant Bias returned with the missing halo to the forerunner capital and took control of another four of the eleven halos in orbit of the planet and attacked the forerunners. After the new found betrayal from Mendicant Bias, the alliance found themselves getting pushed back from all fronts and mass destruction of flood controlled systems from counter attacks did little to slow their advance. It was than they agreed to fire the Halo array, but unfortunately for them, Mendicant Bias returned with a flood fleet numbering in the millions and decimated the Maginot sphere, which forced the allies to accelerate their plans, fortunately for the forerunners, after fighting alongside each other for close to a century, each side had developed a healthy respect between the other side, and the humans with the backing from the San Shyuums, with slight unease, offered the forerunners asylum in the small galaxy that the humans and San Shyuums carved with their hands in dark space. Surprised, the forerunners gratefully accepted and an evacuation of civilians and unneeded military personnel begins on human stealth ships to minimize the chances of flood discovering the exact location of the system.

**One hour before firing of the Halo Array.  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:00:10.  
**Before the firing of the halo, the librarian went to Erde-Tyrene to index the humans, despite protest of the didact and the forerunner ecumene along with some of the high ranking officers of Human-San-Shyuum fleets. When the flood came for her, she destroyed all the keyships that she took with her along with any means of transportation, so the flood couldn't get to the Ark. As the Didact on his way to the Ark was about to send a small fleet to get her to safety, he was contacted by Fleet Admiral Virtus who told him that a group stealth ships stationed in the Sol system was able to save the librarian and her crew and transporting them to the their home as they spoke now. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "Thank you for saving her…What about things on your side? Are evacuation of you and your men completed?"  
"Me? I'm staying behind with what remains of my fleet to assist yours in buying time and providing a distraction along with most of yours."  
"No get your crew and fleet out of there! It is the our fault that the flood has became what it had became in the first place and it will be through our hands that will be righting the mistakes made…Your people already sacrificed enough for our mistakes…"  
The fleet admiral chuckled lightly, "We humans are many things, but one thing that we do not do is abandon allies in a fight…Especially in such critical times. Besides the ships I have with me now are all volunteers and consists strictly of a skeleton crew…And for the record, despite our…history…it has been an honour to serve alongside you and your race." said Virtus before he cut the transmission.  
The Didact stared at the wall of where the hologram had been a moment ago before whispering, "No…the honour is ours…" before exiting the bridge.

**Ten minutes before firing of the Halo Array.  
Minutes to Midnight: 00:00:01.  
**A man sat on the empty observation deck with his helmet on the floor as he stared out the window on board the Didact ship. He watched as the Didact himself took a drop-ship down, as the Ark prevented direct teleportation in from ships in orbit, as the mixed escort of forerunner and human capital ships floated around lazily and finally looked passed all of that onto the galaxy his race and that of countless other that has once called home literally be taken over by flood. The once beautiful galaxy now had black ugly holes of missing light from the countless supernovas caused to wipe out flood controlled systems and the usage of a human designed WMDs called the 'Final Light', an Antimatter bomb that can decimate all life within a radius of two hundred light-years. Deployed as a last resort in an attempt to slow down the flood advance and gain an upper hand as an alternative to activating the Halos. Fortunately it did slow down the flood, but unfortunately they didn't gain an upper hand and the strikes seemed to just merely annoy the flood instead. As he continued to brood on the thoughts, he slowly felt anger rising before it suddenly disappeared to only replaced by a sense of tiredness as everything he went through just collapsed on him and he closed his eyes and sighed tiredly as he placed his head between his knees.  
Just then he heard the door slid open and someone entered and sat next to him before taking off her helmet as well. Taking a quick glance from the side of his eye, he saw long silver hair gracefully cascading down her back before he turned his attention to the wrecked galaxy again.  
The two sat in silence for a minute before the second one spoke, "I suppose in the end you were right Creps…We aren't really that different…"  
Crepusculum just chuckled lightly, "Perhaps…But what happens next…We destroyed at least quarter of the galaxy quite literally, abandoned countless species to the flood and purposely sent countless of good people to their deaths…"  
"Simple, we rebuild and reseed the galaxy."  
"What about us? What are we going to do now? What am I going to do now? I should have been the one that stayed behind on Charum Hakkor helping in its defence before the fall…Not knocked out and dumped onto a stealth ship retreating from the planet…Or at the very least in an interceptor or mech suit fighting to distract the flood right now…"  
"You ever thought about talking to someone about these problems? Like your family?"  
"Watched them get infected by flood during the initial outbreak when I was six…"  
"Oh…Sorry…"  
"Don't be…you couldn't have known…"  
As he said this, the seven Halo ring fires, releasing a wave of its beautiful and deadly pure white energy throughout the galaxy which drew the attention of both occupants. As the seconds passed, Dawn placed her hand on his.  
As he turns to look at her she merely smiles and says "If you don't have a reason to live…Well I guess I'll just give you one…"  
With that they turn back to the galaxy, she leans on him and with a moment hesitation he put his arm around her draws her closer.

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**Hoped you enjoyed the really rough draft.  
R&R any mistakes from story plot, characters, inconsistencies or just grammar and spelling errors. Also feel free to ask questions and provide opinions on how the story should go, names and schematics for new weapons, equipments, vehicles, spaceships, etc, but keep it realistic and proportional and not too overpowering(E.G: A ship capable of dishing out damage in the teratons is believable, a standard heavy weapon used by ODST or marines dealing similar amounts of damage is not…Unless it's for the ancient humans or forerunners than maybe...), credit will go to you, unless I have already developed something similar, than ill pm you and give you partial credit for it.  
And before anyone asks, yes, both UNSC and prehistoric humanity will be a HELL LOT STRONGER than system alliance and citadel, as teratons stronger and supercarriers will actually be bigger than the one used in the covenant war and not nerfed to tiny seven km long ships with the firepower to tickle its larger counterpart...Though I might have to buff the citadel a little bit to keep things interesting…  
And finally, for the forerunner-human-San Shyuum alliance/empire, I have no name coming to mind, I have some infrastructure of government, but no name for the general alliance so far, so any suggestions there will be hugely appreciated, though try not to make it too cliché or 'arrogant'. Also feel free to make any type of suggestions particularly in this topic.**

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**_This story will be continued either after my exams at Dec 2012 or Jan 2013 if people wants it to be continued. Also this chapter might be subjected to minor changes.  
_**


	2. Prolouge II: Aftermaths

**Disclaimer: Contents of Halo belongs to Bungie/343 industries while Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and any starcraft reference made belongs to Blizzard. Anything else that you recognise from games, movies, shows, etc belong to their respective makers, while I hold rights to all OCs.**

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**Well I'm back, around thirteen or so days earlier than I said I would be back, and with exams finally finished, I now have a lot more time on my hand and this chapter has been done by the request of 'nano101', who didn't want a one hundred thousand years' time skip that I was initially planning to do.  
So here is the 'second' part of the prologue and I do hope all of you** **enjoy.**

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*****Ok this is the re-edited version with more spacing and a bit of grammar****work(not much that you will notice). Hopefully this will allow for an easier read. Again sorry about that, was in a slight rush when I posted this chapter.*****

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_"For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure...sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight; our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."  
__**Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood  
-Memorial Speech, March 3 2553.**_**  
**

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**Prologue Part II: Aftermath.  
99,987 BC.  
One day after the end of the flood war.**  
The following day after the end of the second flood war, when the remaining forerunner settled into temporary prefabricated buildings and a short celebration of the victory against the flood did the populace, of both old and new, notice the harrowing silence left behind by those who went and never returned. A day after, the final casualty and missing person count was broadcasted to all that remained of the public, with a total of an average of ninety precent population reduction for all three races combined, with the forerunners suffering the most casualties because they were on the forefront of the war and had the largest population being in the trillions, now reduced to over ten or so million. Although suffering significantly less numerical casualties, the humans and San Shyuum still suffered the deaths of trillions, with the humans' population reduced from the low trillions to single digit millions, while the San Shyuums themselves could be classified as an endangered species numbering just over a million due to their significantly lower reproduction rates.  
In the end, the military of each race was crippled to the point where they couldn't even sustain a short war against a low level tier two race with a competent military, the economy is in ruins due to the fact that there wasn't enough qualified people to fill the required roles and more than a few planets of the 1200 planets under human-San Shyuum empire control is devoid of all human and San Shyuum life with only AI caretakers and maintenance drones looking after the once life-filled, vibrant cities and planets, while the rest had a minimum of a ninety precent population reduction.  
Instead of celebrations in a decisive victory against the flood with past experience gained, that everyone had planned so long ago when the humans and San Shyuums first joined, it was a weeklong mourning for those who had willingly went into the dark so that others may live, for entire family legacies gone, wiped out when they willingly took to arms and perished against the parasite, for the survivors of war who will be forever scarred and burdened by what they saw and forced to do and finally for those who had lost just about or absolutely everything they once held dear.

Around two days through the mourning, the small taskforce of ships sent to Installation 00B, or the lesser Ark, finally returned to the system, all damaged in one way or another due to being suddenly pulled out of the front and sent to escort the didact to the Ark, as HIGHCOM didn't want the flood to find out about the their true plans. As the ships went into orbit of the planets and being repaired, the soldiers, human, San Shyuums and forerunners exited, all somber and tired, and many, not just the forerunners, were just lost, simply because they didn't know where to go or what their purpose was anymore.  
**  
On board the Didact's ship.  
**Crepusculum found himself standing alone on the observation deck once more and staring into the void of space once more as the ship orbited the planet, Novam Vitam. But he wasn't just standing there and staring into space.  
While many people, civilians and soldiers alike, mourned and picked up the pieces, he along with the remaining military leaders of HIGHCOM and the governing body of the Human-San Shyuum alliance empire didn't have that luxury and was already in discussion about their next course of action. So far, they had reached an agreement that they should begin the rebuilding effort by concentrating more with the civilian side of thing, then once the economy and everything else had stabilized, they will begin to concentrate more into rebuilding their military and that they should group the remaining population together on one planet so everyone could be more easily defended by the severely crippled military if anything happened.

Right now they were in discussion of what to do with the forerunners, despite granting them asylum, many still harbour distrust from their past actions and wouldn't put it pass them to stab them in the back in the future, and many agreed that they should just get rid of them at first chance, with many arguing that it was because of the forerunners that the flood managed to get to the point it had gotten to, and hence they were responsible for the death of hundreds of billions of San Shyuums and Humans. Sigma just sighed as he heard that and shot it down by simply replying, "It was because WE destroyed all data we had on the flood as an act of 'vengeance' against the forerunners in the first place, leaving them ill prepared for the parasite, and by extension the rest of the galaxy! So if it was anyone fault for that little mishap, it would be ours, not theirs."

No one rebutted against him as they knew it was true, while those that wanted to were a lot younger than the ten-thousand years old Supreme Commander, hence nervous if they would just discredit themselves by doing so.  
"None the less, how can we be sure that they will not turn on us first chance they get? To finish what they started ten thousand years ago. Even now their military stands larger than both ours combined."

A short moment of silence elapsed, before a San Shyuum general responded to the politician, "I myself have personally served with the forerunners on the ground against the flood on many occasion and even commanded some of their soldiers along with ours. Even though there are some fanatics and radicals among their race who think they are superior to everyone and everything, but so do our respective races. From experience they are a generally nice people and not the type that actively looks for war. Even if they do attack us now and we lose, our military will still be capable of wiping a majority of them out and guarantee their extinction, even if we also go extinct too. Besides, it would be better to have another friend instead of another enemy would it not?"

Surprisingly enough everyone agreed with the general and since they were still under martial law the Lord of Admirals just simply convey to everyone present, "If there is no one else that is against this, I'll send the Forerunner Ecumene a request for a more formal alliance…"

Everyone nodded in agreement, "If no one else has any issues that needs to be addressed immediately, I suggest we continue tomorrow. After all, I can see you are all tired and it would not be wise to continue our meeting with clouded minds."  
Everyone than began to disconnect from the channel they were using before Crepusculum himself disconnected as well.  
"So this is where you disappeared to for the better part of the day…"  
"Sorry, was in a meeting for the better part of today…"  
"Already? Don't you know the meaning of a break? I mean we just survived against the flood. Doesn't that warrant, at the very least, a day off?"  
"Perhaps…But a break is simply a luxury my government and HIGHCOM does not have at the moment, especially in such a time where the people we have vowed to look after and protect are in such a situation…Besides things shouldn't be as bad as it was ten thousand years ago when we have to start again from scratch, at least now we have 1200 fully developed, albeit, empty worlds and a still functioning leadership at our disposal instead of four with haphazardly developed worlds and no clear signs of leadership…Also we have reached an agreement that it would be in the best interests of our three races that the Human-San Shyuum empire formed an alliance with your Ecumene."  
"How long did it take you to pull them over?"  
"Four hours or so…"  
Dawn just stared at him blankly, "I would have thought it would have taken longer than that."  
"Same…But the opposition wasn't putting up as much resistance as they usually did…Even I had thought up a few argument that they could have, but didn't use…"  
"Guess we were lucky than…"  
"I don't think so…"  
"What are you saying?"

Crep just turned to the planet, one of the original four, that became the new beginning of the San Shyuums and Humanity before answering, "I could hear it in their voices, see it in their eyes, at least those that were not wearing helmets, that they were all tired and if I dare say, scared of being forced to fight another human-forerunner war…We want to be able to say with certainty that you won't stab us when our backs are turned, but unfortunately most of us can't…Despite the Human-Forerunner war having been our fault, the atrocities that your race committed against ours for such insignificant acts in comparisons, still scars many of us, including the younger generations, especially that of my race…"

Dawn just said nothing as she continued to listen. A century ago she would have argued that if the human had asked for help instead of attacking, thing would have been different. But as the war with flood dragged on, many of the more prominent political figures in the forerunner military had been killed by the flood, she had found herself being promoted again and again due to her past experiences and contribution to the war, until she found herself in the game of politics and it was there did she discover the large amount of tensions and hate between the two government due to the fact that both races claimed 'ownership' to the mantle and since the human and San Shyuum was seen as a threat to them and with them crippled by the flood, the Ecumene would have seen that as an advantage and taken steps to ensure that they remain unopposed and would have even started a war if they were not attacked.

"But like I have said before, none of us wants war, especially not with you or your race and given our current predicament, and what we have been through, we are willing to give you a benefit of the doubt, and like the general said, 'It would be better to have another friend than another enemy', and I fully agree with that, don't you?"

By the time Crep finished his monologue, he found himself staring into Dawn's helmet from behind his own as she stared back.  
"Only a fool wouldn't…Why are you telling me these things anyways?"  
"You said to talk to someone about my problems, so I thought now was a good time as any."  
Dawn resisted an urge to roll her eyes at the sudden change in mood, "That was slightly anti-climactic…What are you going to tell me next? You joined the military when you were six?"  
Crep just looked away as Dawn finished her sentence before a hint of apprehension slowly fill her, "Don't tell me that you were actually recruited into the military when you were six…"  
"Well technically it was a year after in a no name orphanage among hundreds of other children on a planet long blasted to dust and ash, that I was offered a place in the Dark Templar program among the ten thousand chosen…So I was seven when I began my training."  
Behind her helmet Dawn clearly showed disgust on her face, "Your government is willing to use children as soldiers? That is just…despicable…"  
Crep just sighed, "Remember though, during the time when you and your race was enjoying the privileges of peace and prosperity, mine was in a desperate struggle to contain the flood and stop them from spreading...I have seen how the war started, between you and the flood, how they began invading from the outside…But do you know how humanity and the San Shyuum were forced to fight the flood?"  
Dawn slowly shook her head and Crep just sighed, "Do you know how we initially found the flood?"

Dawn began going through her memory until she found a tiny snippet of information buried away in her mind that she had read long ago in the human archives, "As a 'harmless' powder in a ship of unknown make and your scientists began performing experiments on them and they evolved and the war began."  
Crep just nodded, "That is just the beginning and the end…Initially it took centuries for the flood to evolve, did you know that? Long before I even came into existence…Our scientists found the spores and discovered it had a pacifying effect on any organism that ingested it, and it saw wide spread use among the pherus, a popular delicacy among the San Shyuums and even more popular as pets among our two races…Eventually they slowly began to evolve, the sign were obvious, change in behaviour, un-natural growth of limbs and appendages…but we ignore the signs, saying that they were simply evolving into a 'more superior species'…"

Dawn was enticed by the missing part of the flood evolution while Crep just chuckled at the irony of the statement, "So when the flood finally attacked, they were everywhere. There were no frontlines, no borders…everything was in chaos, entire sectors were cut off and some other just simply disappeared off grid to be eventually found fully infested with flood with no survivors and we had no damn clue on what was going on and what to do in the long run. I have read from the archives, during our training, that on the first day the flood managed to successfully capture a significant amount of warships and we were forced to level hundreds of thousands of cities with survivors, civilian and military, still in them, burn thousands of still inhabited planets into ash, all so we could control the infection…and that was on the first day…First day and our military and industrial might was reduced by at least twenty five precent, as billions lay dead, while hundreds of millions more were missing…"

Dawn just cringed at what she had just learnt; the forerunner's encounter with the flood only yielded that many dead during the first century and it was the half way through the second century before they began to employ any means of orbital bombardment tactics on the parasite. They underestimated the flood because they attacked from the outside with insignificant numbers and was ignored as a threat due to their lack of technology and sentience, until it was finally too late to do anything about it. Humanity on the hand was attacked from the inside of their protective sphere of their mighty military; they didn't have the luxury to sit back analyse the enemy, plan effective strategies and was forced to sacrifice countless lives just to buy time, before finally dealing the killing blow against them by sacrificing hundreds of billions, if not trillions more by implanting genes that attacked the flood own genes and purposely feeding them to the parasite, destroyed them at a genetic level. If it had been the other way around and humanity had found the flood on that accursed planet instead of them, she wouldn't have put it passed them to destroy the entire system to ensure that no spore could survive, while checking neighbouring systems for the smallest signs of flood.

Dawn was than snapped out of her stupor as Crep began speaking again.  
"By the fifth year, someone in HIGHCOM suggested that we needed another branch of 'elite' soldiers other than the Templars, capable of delaying and crippling the flood behind their lines and come out alive while being outnumbered billions to one with little to no support, while is also capable of holding them on the front as well. All this was planned and done with the purpose of buying time with the cost of fewer lives. This type of goal was only attainable if the soldier in question was trained as a child, as studies has shown that a child learns a lot faster than an adult, as you would know yourself, and hence would need less time in training in contrast to adults already in the military, along with the fact that a child is physically less developed, hence allowing more...options when it came to augmentations and mutations. Hence the Dark Templar division was created and when ten thousand children of both human and San-Shyuums begun their training to become the 'Reapers' of the human-san Shyuum alliance..."  
"But none the less it still seems…wrong…"  
Crep just shrugged, "Remember how I told you that I watched my parents being consumed by flood when I was six?"  
Dawn nodded, "That type of experiences scars for life, especially to a child of my age and with the flood war going on, the orphanages were flooded by thousands of orphans and more were coming in almost hourly…They didn't have the resources to take care of everyone and that is where the military came in. They took the orphans who they assessed as capable and gave them…us a chance…A chance to have a life that we could have never achieved if we had stayed in the orphanages, they gave us a new family, a home, and finally a purpose to actually live…And for the record, if I had remained on that planet, I would have most likely have died a year later, when the flood assaulted it…After all, the reports said there was no survivors…"  
The room was sombrely quiet as Creps reminisced about the past and reflected on every decision he had made in his career, while Dawn slowly digested the information she had just learnt about the Dark Templar childhood and past.  
A minute passed by before Crep spoke up again, "Not that I'm complaining, but was there anything that you wanted to see me about, other than the conversation we just had."  
"Right, I was going to tell you that the teleportation grid on this ship had finished syncing with your own grid…"  
"…I have no idea how to respond to that…"

A few awkward seconds passed before Dawn just sighed, "Just say 'Thank you' and follow me…"  
"Then followed by me giving you a tour of the city then dinner on a balcony with a beach side view before somehow ending up in the same bed together."  
Despite her society's view on sex, Dawn still couldn't help but blush slightly at the last part as a relationship with another species was unheard of because of the 'status' of her race being the 'guardians of the galaxy' while being mortal enemies with the humans and San Shyuum had left them somewhat inexperience with human and San Shyuum cultures and arts, despite certain similarities observed during their desperate struggle against the flood. So all in all, being in a relationship with a Dark Templar would be quite 'unpredictable' due to said difference among other things.  
Dawn just huffed at him, "Well I'm leaving now. If you want to stay than that is fine by me."  
Crep gave a short chuckle before following her out of the room.

**1 NE: First day of the New Era.  
One of the four 'core planets' Novam Vitam.  
**In empty area and relatively flat piece of land positioned in the middle of the capital of the planet, usually reserved for celebrations, festivals and such events, was a decorated podium on a decently sized stage with camera drones hovering from all angles and around it. In front of the stage stood a relatively large crowd of people, consisting of forerunner, human and San Shyuums, from all walks of life and standing side by side, with no ill intention towards each other, though some paranoia still remained, with each group whispering quietly to themselves. They all quieted down as the current leader of the human race reached the podium.

"Hundreds of millions of years ago, the precursors arrived in this galaxy from another for unknown reason. They saw this galaxy filled with a variety of life, each different in its own unique way! They sought to protect it from all threats! As millennia passed, the precursors seeded this galaxy with other races of their own creation, including the San Shyuum! As millennia passed, the precursors wished to move on!  
So they created species after species, to test them! Test them to see if they were worthy enough to uphold the mantle when they left! Countless were created and countless failed and were purged! Then hundreds of thousands of years ago, they created the forerunners! The precursors gave them the task to uphold the mantle! A hundred and sixty thousand years ago, just before the precursors disappeared, they created humanity! The precursors told humanity that they were to inherit the mantle as well!  
One hundred and forty thousand years ago, when both forerunner and humanity reached tier 1, humanity voiced their inheritance, the forerunners at the time considered the claim as blasphemy as they were the only ones who were 'worthy'! Instead of negotiating peace and trying to understand why either side thought the way they did, which is expected from civilizations of OUR calibre, we decided to cut all contact with each other and start a cold war.  
So ignorant were we than, so ARROGANT were we, from the position left to us by the precursors, we deluded ourselves into BELIEVING ourselves as gods! When in reality we were anything but! So arrogant as TO BELIEVE! That we were the most powerful force in the universe, BELIEVE that we were invincible to anything and everything as we hid behind our superior technology and 'beliefs'.  
Then the parasite came…It came in the trillions, flooding us…Drowning us in their infinite seas of flesh, blood and bones of our people, and the people of countless others species we have once sworn to protect and failed…And destroying each one of our once oh so might empires, one by one as we stood alone…They were the catalysts of the human-forerunner wars, sealing the fate of humanity and by extension, the peace-loving San Shyuums who stood by our side, along with the trillions of forerunners warriors who were forced to stand against us in defence…They were responsible for the destruction of the forerunner ecumene! Along with the countless other races they couldn't save in time.  
I find it ironic. Ironic how a sentient race with the technological level of a tier seven race could overwhelm three tier one races so easily, to the point if I wasn't actually here to witness the event I would have ordered a psych examination on the person who told me this. But I was present during both wars, I could easily tell everyone here of how they did so…  
They simply worked together…Cooperated…Under one leadership and dedicated to the cause…There was no hate among their ranks, no ill intentions towards each other…In twisted way, they have achieved an utopian state that we have tried to achieve, but couldn't have achieved, as proven from past records of all the power plays, the backstabbing and the satisfactions of personal goals, even if it hurts others as well, and during BOTH wars against the flood, not just between human, forerunners and San Shyuums, but internally as well, severely crippling the effectiveness and efficiency of our empires already, without the flood having to do anything.  
Houses can be remade…Loved ones cannot…Empires can be rebuilt…The countless lives that once called it home and sacrificed to defend it cannot…The sacrifices made by all three of our races during the wars against the flood and each other are so numerous that time cannot bare repeating them all. The countless men and women of our races fought and died to ensure the survival of not just our species but of the galaxy we had once called home. We have more than enough dead heroes to last a million generations…  
Hence forth today will be the starting of a new era! The start of an Era where we can all live without fear of attack of our race by another! An Era without the fear of a possible war looming around the corner against a rival empire! An Era where our children could pursue their dreams and passions and not forced to fight a war! An era where we could all live in peace with each other…  
It's foolish to think the hatred and paranoia that have been nurtured for millennia would all disappear in a century. But think before you decide to rebel and cause another war…Think about the unborn generation, the weary people who do not want to fight, being forced to fight or be killed…Think about the trillions of heroes who courageously and willingly stood facing death and paid the ultimate price for our survival…Do not let their sacrifices be in vain because of old grudges…"

No one made a sound when the human leader finished the speech. Everyone, including the leaders and various political figures of all three races present, were reminiscing about everything that has happened. Slowly one by one people began to clap, soon everyone was clapping and cheering, including those who were watching in their homes.

**1500 NE/98500 BC: Orion arm of the milky way.  
Carrier: Spirit of honour.**  
"Exiting slip-space in forty seconds."  
"Thanks Spes…"  
Sigma stood in the ship's hanger along with many other Dark Templars behind him and as the ship exited slip-space, a green light flashed green and the hard light barrier deactivated, causing every Dark Templar to sprint into the void of space and jump off heading down towards the planet in free fall.  
One thousand five hundred years after the end of the flood war, the politicians and military leaders believed it was time to reseed the galaxy, codenamed PROJECT: SECOND CHANCE.

The project had four phases. The first was to send scout ships, usually the pathfinders, to scout home worlds and still habitable planet and perform detailed scans of the planet for any sign of flood infestation, left over from the firing of the Halo array, such as infection forms or spores, where they didn't have the sufficient biomass or sufficient nervous systems to be affected by the array, rendering them more or less immune and went into hibernation afterwards.

The second phase would proceed if flood was found on the planet, whereas than they would send people down to sterilize the threat if it was relatively minor, hence why the Dark Templars were free falling towards the planet and if it was significantly heavy, the warships sent would bombard the planet from orbit instead and even destroy it if the flood burrowed itself too deep into the planet surface, before rebuilding or terraforming it, which was left to those on the PROJECT: LIFE BRINGER, a project currently underway simultaneously with PROJECT: SECOND CHANCE, whose job was to re-terraform and rebuild any destroyed worlds that were once habitable.  
The third phase of the project was to actually recolonize the home worlds with their respective species when it was declared clean from any flood contamination and finally the forth was to watch them for a short while, making sure the adapted to the environment of their world and not rendered extinct in some global apocalyptic event or failure to adapt to the planet's environment, whereas than they would intervene slightly.

Aside from the two projects mentioned, there is also a third one, OPERATION: TESTMANET PURGE, and those in that operation was responsible for cleaning up the debris left behind during the war, from ship hulls to the most tiny piece of cracked armour, ensuring that nothing that could give one species an advantage over another could be obtained accidently as well as erase all the evidence of tier one humanity and San Shyuums.

Relatively large craters were created and small dust storms kicked up, as Sigma and his fellow Dark Templar hit the planet falling at terminal velocity, and slowly, while the dust still lingered the air, large figures began to rise from the craters unscathed. Quickly they formed up and with a slight motion of Sigma's hand, the team made their way towards the localize infestation, while sentinels set up a temporary quarantine zone in the area.

**10000 NE/ 90,000 BC: Orion arm of the Milky Way.  
**By that time the Milky Way has been rebuilt and restored and most of the surviving races had been successfully 'reintroduced' to their home worlds without incident, while humanity itself and anything within a radius of 20,000 light years of the sol system were being patrolled by a small automated forerunner fleet with the main dock positioned at Mars, deep underground and augmented with human stealth technology to ensure no one finds it while it protected an underdeveloped humanity from external threats and the likes, at least until they reached tier 4, which by than the monitor will shut the base down and bring the fleet back to their owners.  
Now with their task done, the humans, forerunners and San Shyuums head back to their homes to truly begin and rebuild.

**25000 NE/ 75000 BC. Unknown location in deep space.  
**"The probes that have been recently sent into the galaxy have reported back and confirmed that the cycle breakers have disappeared, while all other races have been reduced to prehistoric levels…"  
"Are the relays along with our primary relay ready for travel?"  
"Yes it's. Estimated time of arrival from this position is a little over four decades…I suggest we also **  
**leave traces of older races that were assimilated on various worlds…It will persuade future races to follow the path and make them easier to harvest…"  
"Very well…If there is nothing to discuss, we will leave now."  
With that an unknown fleet entered FTL with a 50km long ship that would be known to future generation as 'The Citadel'.

**25045 NE/ 74955 BC. Orion arm. Sol system: Mars.  
Outpost: Zeta.  
**A metallic ball with a teal 'eye' was floating down a random hallway before suddenly stopping and muttering to himself, "It seems that unknown beings are heading for Erde-Tyrene…Protocol does dictate that I assess them to see if they are a threat…"  
With that a small hole on Mars surface opened and multiple probes flew out and entering slip space towards the unknown ships while the small fleet stationed on the planet was being mobilized.

As the probes reached the outer edges of the Sol system they saw a small fleet of a hundred ships over the dwarf planet which would be known by future generations as Pluto. The probes then activated stealth system and went in for a closer look.  
Meanwhile back on Mars the monitor just hovered idle in position of the base control room as he assessed the situation. As the probes floated closer and closer, the monitor then noticed a strange object being placed into orbit over the planet.

The AI watched as the unknown AI controlled ships did their work, as the scans from the probes found no life form inside them, but just summarised as a race who had developed faster than his makers anticipated. Once the object was successfully in orbit, the entire fleet than went through it heading into space and away from Erde-Tyrene to which the monitor found strange. But he wasn't here to ponder why they did what they did, but merely to protect the reclaimers, the children of his makers. So once the ship left, the monitor waited a week and seeing that the strange beings did not return, deployed the small fleet to investigate the object.

Once the fleet of one heavy cruiser, four normal cruiser and ten modified heavy destroyers reached their destination, they found the object inactive. The monitor then sent a signal to try and connect with it, and surprisingly enough it activated. Prompted by curiosity, he sent one of the heavy destroyers to investigate.  
Once the destroyer reached the range of object, a blue lightning bolt shot out and hit the destroyer. Instead of damaging it, the object than sent the ship into FTL, surprising the monitor, and in a day transported the ship one thousand five hundred light years to another object of similar build.  
"Intriguing…it seems these machines are some sort of transportation system…Woefully inefficient and primitive if I do say so myself…Unfortunately protocol dictates that I must destroy these installations if the reclaimers are to proceed at their own pace and to be protected…None the less, I do believe my makers would not mind if I take a set to study…"  
With that the fleet activated their EMP weapons and disabled the objects on both end before dragging it back to Mars for the monitor to take apart.

**25045 NE/ 74955 BC: Milky Way: Orion arm: One month later.  
**Unbeknownst to the AIs that were in charge of putting the relay into place, part of the system that connected the Orion Arm to the majority of the galaxy was already being destroyed behind their backs. But during that time they found a giant ring shaped object in a seemingly random part of space, surprising them greatly.  
They quickly came to the conclusion that if any races found objects like these; they were highly unlikely going to be using their own tech, hence less likely falling into their trap. So with every said and done, the ships then launched an offensive on the object, to try and secure any technology for future use but the initial attacked failed for three reasons: One they were much too big to fit into any of the buildings on the object, and without breaking protocol and indoctrinating organics to do their work, they had no way to fit inside, two, they tried to attack the buildings on the ring to access them, but much to their frustration, the buildings simply shrugged of the attacks as they were nothing, while just initiating the ring world defence protocols, destroying a significant amount of ships in the process, and the final reason that were unknown to them was the fact that these rings were made to hold off an attacking force equivalent to a small battle group of five forerunner fortress class warships that are twice the size of their citadel and had firepower to rival hundreds of reaper ships if not more. **  
**"It seems the attack on the ring world was unsuccessful…It must have been made by the cycle-breakers."  
"Indeed…Though I find it strange that none of the design conventions matches theirs…None the less, it would be wise to not lose anymore ship attacking an object that we cannot gain anything from…Though I do advise that we remove any relays within this area to ensure no race finds it."  
"Agreed…"  
The ships than went on with their work, and in a month time they successfully deployed the last of the relays and headed back into dark space.  
Meanwhile around that time, the monitor assigned to watch over humanity, with the help of slip space, had successfully 'sterilized' the entire of the Orion system from the mass relays by sending them into the alternate dimension before destroying them and allowing it to go supernova there, while accelerating the Nova with chronoboosters so no ships accidently ran into it. Now the closest relay is approximately a thousand light years away from the borders of the Orion Arm, and even further away from the Sol system, ensuring that the reclaimers come to no harm until they were ready.

**45000 NE / 55000 BC: Milky Way.  
**"Amazing…Even with our fastest FTL drives we cannot travel more than five light years a day…But with this object…This 'mass relay' we can travel more than a thousand light years in the same amount of time…It will advance the Prothean race by centuries!"  
"Hmm…But I must wonder, who made these marvellous objects and left it here?"  
"Who knows, but it would be foolish of us not to take advantage of such a gift!"  
The other didn't say anything as he stared at the glowing blue object and merely nodded, 'Still I cannot help but feel that this 'relay' was left here simply for us to find…Why they did leave it here in the first place? Where did the creators go? Prey that I am wrong…but I feel this is some sort of trap…but what kind of trap…'  
Unfortunately for him, he was right...Since the precursor's arrival and disappearance, he and his race were among the first to fall for the trap laid out for them by a race of AIs, they will eventually come to call simply 'The reapers'.**  
**

**50500NE / 49500BC: Milky Way: Prothean controlled base on a reaper controlled world.**  
"Brothers! The machines have us trapped! They have the planet blockaded with a thousand warships! Our only fate now is death… But before we go, let us repay them for the BILLIONS that they have murdered! Repay them for all the pain they have caused! This will be our last stand before we go and join the others who have perish before us…And let us make it one final stand that will be remember through the ages! One final stand, to buy our brothers more time to find a weakness! One final stand, so other will not need to have suffered like the billions before us!"  
The small battalion of Prothean soldiers roared their approval as indoctrinated protheans reinforced with husks broke down the door to the base, "Brothers…join us…join us and help bring salvation to this galaxy…"  
The unfortunate half mechanized indoctrinated Prothean answer was a bullet to the head before the rest of the battalion opened fire and cutting down Husks after Husks as they passed through the narrow door…The very same base will fall five days later, overran with reaper husks and indoctrinated Protheans, along with running low on everything, the survivors committed suicide rather than consciously join the reaper army.  
Two weeks after that the Prothean Empire will fall with hundreds of space faring species being wiped out, while all the Prothean not in Cryo were killed, while at the same time, violating the sacrifice of every human, forerunner and San Shyuum who gave up everything in combat against the flood ensuring that these very same races were brought to the Ark so they could continue to live.

A few days after, the reapers leaves the Milky Way and head back into dark space, while at the same time, a team of Prothean elite scientists and Special Forces made their way to the citadel via the conduit and sabotage the citadel, consequently buying precious time for the future generations before the arrival of the reapers. This team were then starved to death on the citadel.

**50501 NE / 49499 BC – 98747 NE / 1251 BC : Milky Way.  
**During this time, the Milky way as a whole was left undisturbed with very little happening other than a race known to future generation as 'virtual aliens' successfully escaped their home planet as their star was about to go into a supernova.

**98956 NE / 1042 BC: Milky Way: Orion arm.  
**With the help of forerunner relics left on their home-world: Janjur Qom, the San Shyuums becomes the first civilization to achieve spaceflight after the latest reaper harvest. A civil war will erupt a few decade later and separate the San Shyuums into two fractions: The Stoics, those who did not wish to 'desecrate' the forerunner key ship once thought of as a dreadnaught, and the reformists, those who wish to use the forerunner artefacts develop new technology by entering the key ship. The reformists, despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned, will soon win the war when the successfully capture the key ship from the Stoics and decimated them with the very same key ship while leaving their home world forever and reverting the Stoics back to a tier 7 species.

**99148 NE / 852 BC: Milky Way: Orion arm.  
**"It's with a joyful heart that I now declare the Sangheili-San Shyuum war over! So full of hate were our eyes than, that none of us could see that our war would yield countless dead but never victory! So let us cast arms aside and discard our wrath, thou, in faith, will keep us safe, whilst we find the path together as the covenant!"  
Now with the covenant formed, they would slowly begin to expand outwards meeting and begin incorporating many races into their civilization along with newly discovered forerunner technology as the centuries passed, while they searched for 'holy relics' that would allow them to go on the great journey, which consequently made them the most dangerous force in the galaxy as unbeknownst them, as they were in reality, searching for the weapons of mass destruction.**  
**

**100255 NE / 255 AD / 580 BCE: Milky Way  
**"By the goddess…What is that…ship…It's huge!"  
"I don't know…It looks like some sort of flag ship, a fortress…A citadel…"  
"An apt name. Who would have thought that there is something like this here in the middle of nowhere?"  
"Don't know, but Matriarch Illias wants us to board it…"  
"Board it?"  
Seeing clear confusion on the face of her companion she sighed, "After hailing it a few times we received no answer, along with the fact that it doesn't have a fleet of any sort here and being in the middle of many inactive relays, it's safe to assume that no one is on board…"  
"Right…"  
"Don't worry everything will be just fine." Her partner just nodded as they entered the shuttle with their weapons.  
This will be the beginning of the citadel council as the species known as the Asaris began to colonize the ship, unconsciously putting the entire galaxy at risk from the reapers. Slowly other races will find and slowly join the citadel and as time passes, will subconsciously believe themselves as the most powerful empire in the known galaxy, preventing themselves from all kinds of technological innovation, further hindered by the reaper trap of the mass relays, similarly, yet in some ways, more severely in contrast to the covenant.**  
**

**100836 NE / 836 AD / 1 CE: Milky Way.  
**"We have first contact with unknown species!"  
"Send the first contact message."  
"Successfully sent…Orders?"  
"Now we wait…"  
The operator as silent as he watched the small fleet of unknown ships that outnumbered his 2-1 and moments later bright flashes lit up the dark space and his ship shook violently while others exploded.  
"Sir! Kinetic barriers at twenty-fiver precent! A quarter of the fleet is destroyed and the rest have minor damage! Mass accelerators are fully charged and torpedoes are also armed and ready to fire!"  
"This is Admiral Lish! All ships are to fire at will!"  
His fleet complied and as one they opened fire on the unknown fleet. This would be the beginning of the Ranchi wars…

**101135 NE / 1135 AD / 300 CE-101535 NE / 1535 AD / 700 CE: Milky Way.  
**After three hundred years of war that yielded millions dead, along uplifting the Krogans to fight against the Ranchi. The Ranchi was considered extinct with the victory going to the citadel. In gratitude for the service of the Krogans in the war, the council gave them a few brand new worlds to call their own. Being free from the disastrous nuclear radiation and nuclear winter of their home-world along with the lack of deadly predator and constant warfare, the Krogan population begins to boom and by 700 CE the Krogan 'rebellion' occurs.  
By the end of the Ranchi wars, at 700 CE, the Turians were discovered and welcomed into the galactic community when the Krogan rebellion had just begun. The turian proved to be invaluable soldiers on the frontlines against them, but even then, the Krogan reproduction rates proved rather too much for the citadel to handle. The Salarians saw this and designed the genophage by 710 CE. After the successful deployment of the bio-weapon by turian special operation soldiers, Krogan numbers saw a massive decline and by 800 CE the Krogan empire lays in tatters while the turian took up the role as galactic peacekeepers and military of the citadel. Also during this time the Citadel Conventions are drawn up after witnessing the devastating nature of the Krogan rebellions.

**101945 NE / 1945 AD / 1110 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.**  
**Sol System: Erde-Tyrene.**  
During this time, Humanity enters tier 5 at 1945 AD as the second world war ends when humanity drops the first atomic bombs, the 'Little boy' and 'Fat man' on Japan.  
Strangely enough, humanity after fighting a global conflict lasting six years and one day, yielded over seventy three million dead, equal to or slightly less than the citadel's intergalactic war against the Ranchis, which lasted around three hundred years…  
The quarians begins to mess around with the Geth programming, planting the seed of the morning war.

**101957 NE / 1957 AD / 1122 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
Sol System: Mars: Forerunner observation outpost/ ship dock.**  
A metallic ball hovered over a console watched the screen that provided real time visuals over Earth and saw the first satellites in the atmosphere. "Over a hundred thousand year since the flood war did it take the reclaimers to reach tier 4…But by far, once they started developing, they developed faster than any other races known to my makers, even breaking the record of their ancestors from tier five to four by 2 years…Simply marvellous…Most unfortunate that I must leave them now, even though I would have gladly stayed and watch their development…"  
With that the monitor recalled the probes and began to shut down the base as the sentinel packed up all equipment up along with the mass relays that he have personally taken apart and studied over the many years alone. By the end of the day, the outpost at Mars was fully shut down while the small fleet he has been assigned was in orbit over Mars, "I will miss them, it is almost sad that I cannot help them, but my makers are correct, for a civilization to be truly strong, they must go through their trials on their own…"  
As the ships over Mars opened their slipspace portals, the monitor turned to look at Earth for a second, which for an AI of such calibre is equivalent to millennia, "I will miss them...I do hope I will see them again one day…" With that said the fleet entered slipspace back towards the space his makers controlled.

**102160 NE / 2160 AD / 1325 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
Sol System: Erde-Tyrene.  
**The interplanetary war begins and as a result, the UN forms the UNSC to combat The 'Koslovics', 'revolutionary' rebels who supported communism and the 'Friridens', a fascist government who was said to be supported by the Unified German Republic. Ten years later, at 2170 CE, the interplanetary war comes a conclusion, after many battles that will be remember by generations to come, such as that of rain forest wars and the Jovian moon campaign, and with millions, again, dead, the UN then forms the UEG, to unite all of humanity under one banner. Humanity would know peace for a time, but that peace will not last…

**102494 NE / 2494 AD / 1659 CE: Milky Way: UEG/UNSC controlled territory.  
**After three hundred and thirty four years of peace, war would once again find the UNSC and UEG in the form of brush fire wars and insurrectionists. It began as peaceful negotiations at first with the Colonial Administration Authority for their oversight of the outer colonies along with other things. But as the years passed, some became frustrated at the way of how the CAA was 'ignoring' them; those people abandoned diplomacy and turned to terrorist tactics as a more 'forceful' approach. This will mark the beginning of the CAA, and to a lesser extent, the UNSC, war against the insurrectionists.

**102495 NE / 2495 AD / 1660 CE – 102525 NE / 2525 AD / 1690 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
UEG/UNSC controlled territory.  
**As the insurrectionist war rages on, with the insurrectionists gaining more support and becoming more organized over the years, along with propaganda being blown out of proportion by both sides, the UNSC was being forced to take over for the CAA in putting down the rebels as they grew beyond CAA control. In response to the CAA incompetence, the UNSC begins to limit the power the CAA have as well as direct the funds meant for the CAA to the UNSC so they can more effectively fight the rebels. This would be the seed of hatred from the CAA towards the UNSC and saw many from the CAA defect to the insurrectionists.  
Office of Naval Intelligence civilian scientist, Doctor Catherine Halsey, proposes the Spartan-II super-soldier program to ONI brass. After three decades at with the insurrectionists and with casualties already in the hundreds of millions, ONI decides to green light the project to give them the edge over the innies. The Spartans would prove extremely effective against the insurrectionist and within month of their activation, the rebel movement was extremely crippled from surgical strikes against key areas and assassination of their leaders.  
This year would also be the beginning of a time remembered by many as 'Humanity darkest hour' and the catalyst that united the majority of humanity under one banner, when humanity meets a collective alien empire, named the covenant, over the agricultural world of Harvest. **  
**

**102551 NE / 2551 AD/ 1716 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
**As months turned into years and as years turns into decades, the UNSC would find themselves severely outmatched by technologically, numerically and physically superior foe. Every battle that was lost against the covenant would saw tens of millions die as the covenant mercilessly carried out their genocide campaign.  
Towards the end of the war, billions had already selflessly; yet vainly paid the ultimate price without fear or need for fanfare as they sacrificed themselves to save the others that they had vowed to protect. Entire generations were wiped out, while more were already taking up the mantle in the defence of the human race, with each succussing generation providing less and less man power.  
This war would also see humanity's fire burn brightest since the flood wars a hundred thousand years ago and grow even brighter as the war progressed against their favour where hundreds of UNSC planets were glassed and tens of billions murdered.

**102552 NE / 2552 AD / 1716 CE-102553 NE / 2553 AC / 1717 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
**The events of Halo: Reach/ Fall of Reach, 1, 2 and 3 occurs.

**102557 NE/ 2557 AD / 1721 CE: Milky Way.  
**The UNSC discovers Requiem and finds Spartan-117. The reclaimer trilogy takes place.

**102600 NE / 2600 AD / 1764 CE: Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
**Many years have passed since the ending of the Great War and the end of the loyalist threat. The UNSC, and the Neo-Covenant, particularly the sangheilis, despite the rare joint operations against the small loyalists hold outs and the amount of time passed, still held very strong animosity against each other, which in turn led to paranoia and both galactic super powers had been building up their military might almost non-stop after the initial rebuilding effort for the UNSC and stabilization of sangheili society on their own terms, despite ONI efforts running black ops to keep it destabilized so the sangheili will not turn into a threat.

Unfortunately for the UNSC, who in turn handed power back to the UEG, and in turn humanity itself, was still on their own with no allies what soever, except for the huragoks that were 'liberated' from the covenant, while the sangheilis still retained a majority of them along with the unggoys, Kig-yars and Mgalekgolos. But despite currently outnumbering the humans severely, the human population was quickly catching up, with the population of humanity almost doubling for every new generation born into this world, and in some cases even tripling.

The most glaring weakness of the sangheilis and their allies was the lack of effective and efficient research and development methods due to the huge reliance on the prophets and huragoks to provide the technology, hence has developed very little in these past few decades, while in contrast to the UNSC who only had themselves to rely on, has developed leap and bounds above the sangheili equalling them, and in some cases surpassing them in technology despite being significantly inferior no more than half a century ago. Tension begins to rise as the two powers compete for control and dominance. A cold war begins with the two powers, threatening to turn into a hot sangheili-human war. Despite the still existence animosity, neither side wanted another war, especially the UNSC, with the initial human-covenant war still relatively fresh in everyone mind. So in response, the UNSC decides to take the first step to reduce tensions and paranoia by turning the truce into a peace treaty while ONI was tasked by Fleet Admiral Hood himself to watch the sangheili so they would know if they tried anything against them.

**102731 NE / 2731 AD / 1895 CE: Milky Way: Council space.**  
The Quarian-Geth war, also known as the morning begins and the quarian loses their home-planet, while the citadel cuts all ties with the quarians because of their construction of AIs. Many people begins to hate the quarian for 'unleashing a plague' on the galaxy, yet refuses to go to war with the Geth despite said fears. The quarians will eventually find themselves losing the war and being force to flee their home world or face extinction, while the Geth themselves, in the future will prove themselves to be extremely 'problematic', yet at the same time, part of the galaxy most vital assets against an ancient threat.

Meanwhile in that same amount of time, the sangheili rebellions from the two fractions, The Servants of Abiding truth, The Storm covenant and remnants of the UNSC insurrectionists were successfully put down in the course of a two year campaign which saw the loss of tens of thousands of lives in joint operations to silence them once and for all. The aftermath of this situation serve to lessen tension and increase the partnership of the UNSC and the Neo-covenant.

**102850 NE / 2850 AD / 2014 CE; Milky Way: Orion Arm.  
**The once hiding covenant loyalist makes a returns to the Orion Arm in an attempt to finish what they had begun two hundred and ninety eight years prior. Having built new fleets and upgraded their technology, the Brutes and the still enslaves grunts and Jackals successfully retake their home world of Dosiac from the Neo-covenant while launching multiple offensives against both UNSC and Neo-covenant. At first the loyalist were successful at pushing back both sides and glassing all the worlds they conquered, going so far as to reconquer Dosiac from Sangheili watch, but having regained their baring, the Neo-covenant and UNSC begun to push back the Brutes.

Being more advanced than they initially were three centuries ago, the UNSC was able to fight the Brutes on even grounds with a 1:1 kill ratio in term of tech. But combined with the average Jiralhanae grasp of navel and ground tactics, or rather the lack of, it made them easy work for fleets of the UNSC, even when outnumbered 2:1. While the Neo-covenant, was also faring much better than they initially did as well.

Five years into the war with the loyalist, the UNSC knew something was up due to the fact that despite fighting a war on two fronts, the Brutes still had the numbers and resources to upkeep the fight on an even level and on both fronts and this served to worry both UNSC and Neo-covenant, since the brutes were usually known as all brawns and no brains, with some outliers off course. A few months later a UNSC prowler managed to find a loyalist base of operation and the UNSC launched a successful surprise attack on it. Within the base they discovered many things, such as the few remaining prophets have successfully gain entry and take control of a forerunner installation a decade ago, after wandering the star aimlessly for a little over 3 centuries, which turned out to be a production facility and is used by the loyalist to create their fleets, vehicles and weapons at an unprecedented rate which almost surpassed that of UNSC and Neo-covenant. Another thing which served to worry the defender was the fact that they had managed to partially reverse a cloning device from the forerunners. Though not perfect clone or to the calibre of what the forerunners can do, such as the lack of brain power in contrast to the usual brute, not like the had much to begin with, the shortened live span and many other faults. Even the UNSC could produce a better clone in the 26th century. But what they had wrong didn't hinder their purpose much, which was to serve as cannon fodder and meat shield to the 'normal' loyalist infantry, which though had grown in number, was still smaller than that of the UNSC and Neo-covenant.

The war will be won a few days later when a surgical strike made by a combined fleet of sangheili and UNSC to neutralize the installation and put an end to the loyalist threat. Despite neutralizing the loyalist and t taking out the leader, the Prophet of Reclaimation and shattering the loyalist army once again, a majority of the Jiralhanae fleet was able to escape from the defenders using the retreating tactics once employed by the UNSC during the human-covenant war, purging all databanks and initiating random slip space jumps, hence ensuring the majority of the escapees escaping from being hunted down and denying the UNSC/Neo-covenant vital. After the war, the UNSC and humanity would be invited to join the Neo-covenant.  
Giving the Sangheilis a benefit of the doubt and with the civilians living in fear of the cold war turning into a hot war, the UNSC and by extension the UEG accepted the offer and many let out a breath of relief.

**102984 NE / 2984 AD / 2148 CE; Milky Way: Elsewhere: System Alliance  
**In another system extremely far away from the Orion Arm, but having similar planets of the Sol System as well as a second Earth. On this second Earth was another group of humans who had just rediscovered space flight and just recently, discovered mass effect physics. The System Alliance, as it was called, finds a small cache of highly advanced Prothean technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars on the south polar region of Promethei Planum. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race, humans quickly explore the science of mass effect fields, leading to the development of faster than light travel and beginning detailed exploration of their Sol system.

The finding would boost Alliance technology by centuries ahead of what it was supposed to be at, and to high tier 4 and low tier three in forerunner technological achievement tiers, but this finding would also ultimately make the System Alliance weak and reliant on others as well as finding Prothean technology to reverse engineer instead of developing their own. Unlike their UNSC and UEG brethren who triumphed over the covenant almost single handily or their ancestors who had fought the flood and forerunners on an even level simultaneously, where both powers had earned the fear and respect of their enemies respectively, the majority of this humanity would be a willing sub servant to another power, where they would play by their rules to keep them happy and hope that their 'masters' would throw them a bone when they were good, where they would have to ask permission for everything they want to do, where they would be looked down upon and scrutinized for the tiniest of mistakes while ignoring their achievements and ultimately where they would remain blissfully ignorant to the world galaxy around them as a whole as they were fully content at where they were at.  
**  
102985 NE / 2985 AD / 2149 CE; Milky Way: Elsewhere: System Alliance  
**"The sensor is going off the scales, sir. Something big beneath Pluto's moon…"  
"How big?"  
"I don't know sir, but sensors say it's a lot larger than anything we have made and has an extremely powerful Eezo core…"  
"Hmmm…Doctor what do you think it is?"  
"Well captain, the Prothean computers says it was something called a 'Mass Relay', a huge transit system that can go around thousand five hundred light years in a day, and there are supposed to be many of these type of relays all across the galaxy."  
"My god…That's faster than anything we have! Do you have any idea on how we can get to it?"  
"Well the data did say to try and connect with it…"  
"Operator!"  
"On it sir!"  
Slowly Charon began to vibrate softly, and a minute later cracks began to appear on it is surface. Slowly the moon began to shake more violently before it split into many fragments and a giant blue fork was revealed to the onlookers.  
Slowly a probe began to approach it than suddenly a flash of light hit the probe and a moment later it disappeared.  
This would be the System Alliance where the System Alliance would discover FTL in terms of mass effect and where they would begin expanding at a rapid rate and would be seen as some of humanity greatest achievements, ignoring the fact, off course, that they just leeched of a more advanced race.  
**  
102993 NE / 2993 AD / 2157 CE; Milky Way: Shanxi: First contact  
**"Sir! Patrol flotilla at the recently opened Shanxi-Theta Relay had been wiped out by unknown hostile ships."  
"What do you mean by 'unknown'?"  
"The single ship that made it back here said that they were attacked by unknown ships when they opened the dormant relay in the system, they concluded that they are most likely aliens."  
"Aliens? Do you know how absurd that sounds?"  
"Sir! An unknown fleet just jumped into the system! They are heading towards the planet and not responding to hails!"  
"Get all available ships to intercept them, get the station forces ready to repel enemy boarding actions and send a message to General Williams to mobilize all his troops!"  
"Yes sir!"

It was all for naught as the alien fleet, later discovered by the System Alliance calling themselves 'Turians', eventually broke through Shanxi orbital defences and gain orbital dominance. From there the Turian began slaughtering everything and everyone, assuming everyone was military like they were and forced the garrison of Shanxi into a Guerrilla campaign while the Turians began to prepare for a prolong siege.

Two weeks later, with supply running low and small fire-teams that were sent out to retrieve supplies being killed with Turians destroying entire 'city blocks' merely to wipe them out and without regard to any other casualties they might inflict. In the end, when soldiers and civilians alike, began to die of hunger and thirst, General Williams had no choice but to surrender the garrison and by extension, the colony as well. With this course of action the turian would lower their guard, believing that humanity home world was under their control. This would prove to be a fatal mistake as the System Alliance Admiral Drescher would lead the second fleet to successfully evict the Turians from the planet.

With both side preparing for an intergalactic war, the council took noticed to the Turian Hierarchy's military build-up and intervened, negotiating peace with the System Alliance, effectively ending the war before it began.  
As a result, many in the system developed a sense of xenophobia over the battle, anti-alien parties such as Terra-Firma was created and the System Alliance becoming the public face and representative of humanity as a whole while accepting the invitation to join the Citadel alliance, despite all the rules and prohibitions that they have in place limiting the System Alliance even further as well as considering them as 'second class' in contrast to other species, especially by the Turians.  
**  
103000 NE / 3000 AD / 2164 CE; Milky Way  
**This is where our story begin, where everything will come full circle as ancient threats from the hidden and protected by the dark emerge from their slumber…

* * *

**R&R.  
Well that's the end, chapter one will be up next, though there might be some discrepancies as I initially started chapter one before I started this(seriously, trying to match the time so it made sense was a slight pain in the ass), and like I said previously, feel free to post any constructive criticism and point out any typos made.**


	3. Chapter 1: Installation 08

**Disclaimer: Contents of Halo belongs to Bungie/343 industries while Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and any starcraft reference made belongs to Blizzard. Anything else that you recognise from games, movies, shows, etc belong to their respective makers, while I hold rights to all OCs.**

* * *

**First 'official' chapter to my story. Please ignore and tell me some discrepancies that I have missed as I began writing this chapter first before I began prologue II: Aftermaths. Also finally, there might be some spelling error, I originally wrote this with MS word before uploading, but after I did, a bunch of red underlines popped up while MS word showed nothing. And there is a lot, so I can't be bothered changing them. Probably just spelling variations.  
So please enjoy.∑**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Installation 08.  
**_"The Halos…Despite the fact, that they are an extreme threat to the galaxy as a whole. The Neo-covenant still keeps them. Why? Simply because the technology in the Halos are invaluable, or more specifically the weapon is…The ability to effortlessly wipe out all living things on a galactic scale might be a little too large for us, even for ONI, but to understand how to utilize and counteract such a weapon will secure the dominance of the Neo-covenant, and by extension, humanity itself, as a galactic superpower and will ensure another 'human-covenant war' will not occur again, or at the very least will be in our favour."  
_**-Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood.**

* * *

**Year: 3000 AD, January 1****st****, 14:07:00**  
**UNSC Cairo station orbiting over Earth: Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood.  
**Lord Hood, commander of the entire UNSC navy reminisced about the past as he sat behind his desk on a newly upgraded Cairo station defence platform orbiting Earth with another two hundred and ninety nine others of similar design along with a fleet of three thousand ships in Orbit over the UEG capital. Hood should have long ago died from old age, UNSC medicine weren't that good yet, but after the war, the UNSC began going through the data gathered from various forerunner installations and created nanites and was given to all people that were considered 'important' such as scientist, government officials, special operations too valuable to lose and military leaders, and after a decade or so it was given to the public as well, after becoming more common and discovering more efficient way of manufacturing them.

The nanites themselves works by constantly repairing the body cell structure as they get damaged, therefore granting immortality, or at least immortality to the decay of time, now at the ripe age of 586, he was still fit enough to lead a fleet of ships into battle. Also the Elites found the Prophet of Truth have successfully created something similar and had been killed before he had the chance to apply it to himself, and hence the elites and the separatists, which renamed themselves the 'neo-covenant' which included the grunts, hunters and jackals, took it and began using it themselves, also granting them immortality and increasing tensions between the two powers.

This happened only a decade after the war where both races still had a grudge against each other, despite the 'peace' treaty created, which in hindsight was more of a 'you don't turn a human planet into glass and we don't turn one of yours into an asteroid field' kind of deal.

Nowadays, after the successful joint operations in wiping out both elite and human insurrectionist and splinter groups two hundred and sixty-nine years ago, tension have been easing at a slow pace between the two powers, but after a second attack by covenant loyalists using upgraded weapons and warships led by the Prophet of Reclamation one hundred and fifty years ago, the neo-covenant and the UNSC combined their resources and successfully obliterated the old covenant with a moderate amount of casualties. This further eased tensions to the point where the UNSC by extension the UEG was invited to join the Neo-Covenant and after negotiations and giving them the benefit of the doubt, they did join, though they still kept their old names. Seventy-five years after that, the first human-alien joint colony was created on a newly discovered planet called 'Luminous future', eventually becoming an economic powerhouse and a newly restored Ark by forerunner sentinels became the military and research capital of the super power, while Reach still kept her status of military fortress of the UNSC.

Now in the modern day, though most of the old generations of all species, especially the humans and elites, still remember the war held some grudges and trust issues against each other, they were willing to at the very least tolerate and talk to the other without insulting the other and starting a fight, while the newer generation were much more accepting and much…more opened minded…and leave it at that.  
The Admiral attention than turned to the door as it opened and a young officer from ONI walked through and saluted, "At ease. What do you need?"  
"Well…how should I put this…You know the probes we sent into deep space a few months ago?"  
Hood merely nodded and the officer continued, "Well one of them found a Halo…"  
"I think I might have just misheard you…did you just say a Halo, Lieutenant?"  
"Yes sir, considering there are only seven ever mentioned and we have all of them secured at the Ark...No one knows why it was never mention in any of the forerunner archives in the first place."  
Slowly nodding as he took it in, "How many people knows about it?"  
"Just you, Admiral Parangosky, me, the people monitoring the probes in the first place and the president."  
"I see…What fleet is closest to this Halo?"  
Looking down at his data pad he answered, "A newly formed joint colony named 'Prosperity' with a newly created fleet of seventy five ships stationed there. They are approximately fifteen thousand light years out."  
"So around two weeks in slip-space…Send a communique to the CO there and tell them to secure it. The 8th rapid reaction fleet will reinforce them and the 10th joint assault fleet will be put temporary in charge of defence over the colony. Also send a slip-space communique to the rest of HIGHCOM and the Neo-covenant. Dismissed."  
"Oh and one more thing before I leave sir…This Halo is three times the size of a normal Halo, reasons unknown."  
The lieutenant than saluted and exited the room leaving Hood to his thoughts.

**Joint colony Prosperity: Newly created 20****th**** joint defence fleet: Fleet of Rapid Ascension.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr on the bridge of the Assault carrier '****_Devine Intervention'_****  
**"Fleetmaster, we just received a communique from the humans, priority zero. It's for your eyes only."  
Voro nodded and moved over to the COM station while the Sangheili major moved out of his way. After he finished reading he nodded, "It seems a human scouting probe found a Halo and we are closest to it…"  
The rest of the bridge crew look up in surprise while the major next to him replied, "How? Don't we have all of them secured on the Ark?"  
"Apparently not…Get the fleet ready for slip-space we are to leave immediately."  
"What about the colony?"  
"A petrol group will be here in five minutes to relieve us and the 10th assault fleet will be here in 2 hours to take our spot."  
"Yes Fleetmaster."  
In a minute time the entire fleet entered slip space.

**Approximately 12 days since 20****th**** joint defence fleet entered slip-space.  
Somewhere bordering System Alliance space.  
**In the quietness of space a dormant mass relay floated there peacefully before a damaged ship no more than two hundred meters transitioned out of FTL, "Did we lose them?"

A moment later 5 ships of similar sizes along with three other ships four hundred and forty meters long exited FTL as well, "Guess not…Damn slavers…How long before we can enter FTL again?"  
"Venting excess heat is fifty precent completed captain, we have one more jump in us before we need to discharge our drives, it will be another one minute and twenty two seconds before we can enter FTL again."  
"Bosh'tet! We won't be able to last that long…"  
"Well there is a dormant mass relay in front of us…"  
The captain replied 20 seconds later, "Activate the relay…We are no longer apart of the citadel therefore not bound by their laws…"  
"Captain, slavers weapons in range! They are aiming for our engines!"  
"Go evasive!"

The tiny frigate began desperately dodging mass accelerated rounds from the slavers cruisers and frigates, a few stray rounds from mass accelerators of the pirates ships had managed to hit the relay, creating huge explosions. After the explosion cleared, the relay was still in perfect condition, without a scratch on it, demonstrating the advanced material put into making the 5km turning fork.  
"How long till it's activated?!"  
"Right about…now!"

As the quarian pilot said this the mass relay powered up and swallowed the ship. The slaver group just floated around as it pondered whether to give chase or not. Half a minute later they sent two frigates through and when they reported an all clear and they managed to get a homing beacon on the quarian ship before they entered FTL, the entire group went through.

But before the last ship managed to enter, an alliance petrol group entered the area after receiving a report from outlying sensors to see what the commotions was all about, only to see a ship enter a once dormant relay. The group than cautiously approached the relay, "Well ship designs schematics matches those of a Batarian slaver cruiser…Now what sir?"

"Send a communique back to Arcturus Station and the citadel…Tell them what happened and to send reinforcements…We will be holding position."  
"Yes sir!"  
**On the other side of the relay.**  
The quarian captain stared out the ships window as it entered FTL just as two slaver ships passed through and sighed tiredly, the crew along with herself were at the safe from the slavers…At least for now…She had no way to know if they had managed to track her or worse, get a homing beacon onto the ship.  
"How far is the system you detected when we exited the relay?"  
"Around ten light years away, we should arrive in a little over twelve hours."  
The female quarian captain nodded her head, "Very well…inform me if anything happens I'll be in my quarters."  
"Yes captain."

**Eleven hours fifty minutes later on forerunner installation. **  
"You ever wonder why we are here?" ask a tall humanoid figure in full body armour as he stood on cliff overlooking a lush green forest.

"Well…First we survived the flood and the first and only ever galaxy wide purge of all sentient beings, because we were 'assigned' to guard the didact's ship as he brought the activation index to the Ark, simply as a 'precaution' to guard him in case he ran into flood in the middle of nowhere and his escort of our respective races most powerful warships at the time were not able to hold them off. Than after we restored and reseeded the galaxy we literally exiled ourselves to an artificial galaxy that your race and the San Shyuum created, which eventually became our home as well. After a hundred thousand years we expanded the once tiny galaxy of 1200 system into a mini galaxy of 25,000 thousand systems. And a few hundred years ago, the High War council and the Conclave decided it would be a good idea to secure a foothold in our old home in case we ever needed to return." answered his female companion without taking her eyes off the forest.

"No, I meant why of all things did they decide to put installation 08 here along with five shield worlds and have said installation guarded by two special operations commanders along with a small army of Templars and Prometheans and in a place where almost no one ever comes to, aside from the scheduled supply shipments and petrol groups. I mean couldn't the normal forces have done it instead of us?"  
His companion just shrugged, "You will have to ask one of the people at the top about that. Beside would you rather be sitting behind a desk or in one of those meetings with politicians deciding on what to do next, Crep? I myself know that I would rather be out here…I have spent more time than

I would have had liked in that meeting room…"  
Crep chuckled lightly, "Guess your right Dawn, but still I'll rather be in bed with you…"  
"Pervert…" They both shared a quiet laugh at that before Crep personal AI, caduca spes, spoke up, "High supreme commanders, unknown object have been detected heading towards this installation in FTL. The monitor is busy preparing Installation 08 defences."  
A minute after he said this, a tiny ship of unknown design appeared in a bright flash a hundred km away from Halo. Taking a glance at each other, they turned their attention back to the ship which was slowly drifting towards the installation before another eight ships of significantly different design came from behind the first. Immediately the first engaged its engines as the other eight opened fire with what seemed to be primitive slug cannons. Four missed while 3 hit a shield and the last shot took out an engine, which successfully managed to send the small craft spinning out of control and crashing somewhere on the installation.

"Spes, coordinate of the crash site."  
"Approximately two hundred kilometre from your current position, uploading exact coordinate into your armour, also the commodore has ordered all force to watch them for the time being…Only kill if they become a threat to us."  
"Orders confirmed."  
With that they both unclipped their rifles attached on their back before opening a slip space portal and walking through.

**The crashed quarian ship.  
**The captain slowly picked herself up from the floor along with the rest of her crew, "How many dead, how many injured?"  
Another quarian walked up to a slightly sparking console, "Fifty dead along with another twenty nine injured with six being in critical condition and can't be moved…"  
"So a quarter of the crew is dead…"

After a moment of silence she gave another order, "Put the six in critical condition out of their misery…There is nothing we can do about them now…Beside it's better than leaving them to die a slow painful death or to the Batarians…"

Hesitantly the other gave the order through the com before turning back the captain, "Now what? We are trapped in this place without transportation and those Bosh'tet can come and pick us off whenever they like."  
"We move out of course, clear the ship of anything useful and get ready to leave in ten minutes. After all, this place is obviously built by someone and maybe if we are lucky we can find a ship as well."

Fifteen minutes later everyone made it out and was around in awe, "Keelah…What is this place? Did the protheans build this?" asked a quarian marine in awe.

The captain than walked down the ramp with a rifle in hand, "I don't know who or what built this ring, and right now, I don't care. Our survival is my only concern…"  
The rest nodded at gave her their attention, "Before we hit the forest, I saw a building not too far from here. We can use it as temporary shelter from the night and the Batarians."

Everyone nodded to show that they understood before their captain continued, "4th platoon will watch our rear, 1st squad will be our scouts while everyone else forms a perimeter around our wounded and vehicles which will be in the centre. All right people move out!"  
Immediately the quarian set about their respective tasks, unaware on the people already observing them and intercepting their transmissions from the trees when they crashed, with a nod the two figures in the trees split up to either side of the quarian perimeter.

**Installation 08 control room.  
**"Commodore, I have successfully locked down all entrances to our facilities, jammed all communications other than local COMs channels as well as hacked into their ships as per protocol, orders sir?"  
"Have you decoded their language yet?"  
"It will be done momentarily."  
"Alright, once you are done translating upload their language to everyone here as well and send a flash message to HIGHCOM telling them about the current situation."  
"Very well…Message sent has been received. Conclave response is to tell you to wait and watch. They have also mobilized the 12th rapid reaction fleet to the edge of the system ready to assist if things go out of control."  
Nodding the commodore turned back to the hologram and watched as the newcomers made their respective moves.

**2164 CE: June 20****th****.  
Behind the 'illegally' opened relay near System Alliance borders.  
**A fleet combined from parts of the citadel fleet itself along with Arcturus fifth fleet of the System Alliance floated lazily around the once dormant relay as they debated on what to do.  
"So it's decided then. A mix group consisting of a turian and human cruiser along with 3 frigate from the citadel fleet and 2 from the system alliance will scout the other side and hunt down the pirates, as the rest of us remain here to secure the area." said the turian in charge of the group.  
"That is correct, and we will give temporary command of this group to the captain on your cruiser for the duration for this mission." said Admiral Hackett.  
"So then it's decided, Admiral." With that the screen turned black and the scout flotilla went through the relay.

**The other side.  
Turian cruiser POV.**  
A moment later the ship exited the other side of the relay, "The area is clear of any hostiles. Sensors detect a small system approximately ten light years away. Awaiting orders, captain."  
The captain nodded, "Excellent, send a message back to the fleet informing them of the situation and tell them that we will be heading to the new system to see if we can find the pirates and bring them to justice!"  
"Message sent. They are asking you to hold position for a moment as they send more ships through to secure the area!"  
"Very well, but tell the others to charge up FTL drives and prepare for a jump."  
"Yes sir!"  
A moment later forty ships from the citadel came through along with thirty human ships and the moment they did the small scout flotilla transitioned into FTL.

**Back at installation 08.  
Sigma POV.  
**"Sigma! Slip space ruptures detected just two thousand km from the installation! Too slow and crude to be ours…"  
A moment after Spes said this seventy five of the familiar blue-silver portals opened up and a mix of grey bulky ships and green smooth ships that gave an aqueous feel exited. "I'm detecting human life forms along with other species on those ships!"

Looking up Sigma smiled slightly, it was good to see his own species have managed to advance to such a level and make peace with another, despite the fact they were still technologically inferior. A moment later a few ships came over the ring and released what seemed to be drop pods along with drop ships, even a few coming towards his general area, while the rest of the ship secured a perimeter around the installation.

He turned his attention back to the Batarian ship's, as they were identify later from the intercepted communications, foolishly opened fired on the newly arrived ships and they were immediately destroyed, dooming the troops they dropped down earlier.  
"Well Spes…Guess we are in for one hell of a day huh?"  
"You can say that again…By the way, the commodore has ordered us to stay hidden for the time being, the monitor will greet the humans."**  
**"Orders confirmed."

**First Light of a New Dawn POV.**  
"Slip space ruptures detected, Delta…" Said Eternal-Winter, Dawn's personal combat AI. A huge improvement from the old Ancillas that the forerunners had used during the flood wars. Looking up she saw the ships come and began deploying its cargo, while the pirates over the installation were immediately destroyed as they opened fire with their pitifully weak weapons. "Orders from the commodore are to remain hidden and observe, while monitor of this installation will greet the humans."  
Slightly nodding, "Orders confirmed…"

**Quarian group POV**.  
A few of the quarians watching the skies for possible Batarian scouting aircrafts yelled in surprise causing the rest of their group to look up and what they saw rooted them to the spot, as giant blue-silver portals suddenly appeared out of nowhere as ships of two distinctly different design came through with the larger ones either equalling or dwarfing even the Asari's flagship '_Destiny Ascension'_, while their smallest dwarfed their cruisers but still slightly smaller than the council 'classic' dreadnaughts.

They watch with a slight relief mix with terror as they saw the Batarian slaver group of ships literally disappear as they opened fired on the new comers, which returned fire immediately with directed energy weapons which made them stare with awe and terror.  
As the shock began dying down the group began looking at each other, uncertain of their continual survival on the ring world before one of them spoke up with what are in everybody minds, "Now what? Instead of a Batarian slaver group we have an unknown civilization over our head with ships equivalent to if not larger than our cruisers and dreadnaughts and deploying troops all over the place…"  
The captain just sighed, her life had just gotten so much harder, "We continue to move, we are about ten minutes out from the building…And if we encounter one of those aliens you are not to shoot unless fired upon. We do not need another race that hates us…"  
With many nods and even a few salutes the company of quarian began moving through the forest again.

**In installation control room.**  
"Sir reclaimers have been detected on board those new vessels, translation of their language been completed due to certain similarities between them and the human old language before the flood. Should I initiate contact?"  
"Very well, lift lockdown on installation to allow them access to avoid suspicion, but keep this area locked down still, we don't want to reveal ourselves just yet."  
"Lockdown has been lifted, update has been sent to The Conclave. Should I greet these reclaimers?"  
"You may do as you wish."  
With that the floating ball exited the room as the commodore continued to watch the tactical display and multiple holograms of the humans and their allies securing key areas on the installation.

**On board Assault carrier: ****_Divine Intervention._**** Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.**  
The Fleetmaster watched on screen from the bridge as his fleet destroyed those pitifully weak ships as they opened fire on his fleet, "Those ships are almost weaker than a human corvette from the era of the Great War…" stated a major on the weapon station and the Fleetmaster just grunted his agreement.  
"Troops have been successfully deployed; ninety five precent of the ring surface is under our control. Sensors picking up at least two separate species on the ring we have never encountered before. Should I send the order to eradicate them from the relic?" said a sangheili operator.  
"No…send a small platoon in to meet with them first and back them up with a company of troops in case they prove hostile. Besides if the worse comes we still have the demons on board."

The bridge grinned as the Fleetmaster said this, the reputation of the Spartans of any class and generation were legendary, proven time and time again in the midst of the battle where they would single handily destroy all opposition even when outnumbered fifty to one. A moment later the Sangheili on Sensor literally yelled out "Fleetmaster! Luminaries are acting up! All ships within the fleet are receiving the same results! The forerunners have truly blessed us with the finding of this ring!"  
"Major calm down, what did you find?"  
Barely containing his excitement the sangheili replied "Within the system there are at least five different shield worlds as well as multiple artificial installations in orbit around them!"

The Fleetmaster along everyone sangheili within the bridge had unconsciously dropped their mandibles, the equivalent to a human jaw drop when they become surprised or shock, as they process this information, after all finding one shield world was hard enough as it's, let alone an installation of any sorts, but five in the same area was unheard of.  
"Send a group of at least four ships along with at least one human ship for each one of those shield worlds. Tell them to try and secure as much relics as they can while we wait for reinforcement as well as send a message back to the neo covenant and tell them of our findings!"  
"Yes Fleetmaster!"  
A moment later, 20 ships broke away from the main group and headed towards each of the shield worlds.

**Captain Richard Scott CO of ODST 5****th**** platoon. **  
Scott cautiously made his way through the forest of the unknown installation backed by his platoon all clad in the same black armour worn by previous generations of ODSTs going back all the way to the human-covenant war. Even though the appearance of the armour appears the same, aside from a more streamlined look, but inside the armour was where it truly different, now it boasted performance enhancers, increasing the user strength by fifty precent and reflex and speed by thirty-five precent along with an energy shield reversed engineered from forerunner technology before being refined and could take up to four direct anti-tank rocket hits from the covenant-human war era before being depleted. Though despite this, the new MJLNIOR armour shields for Spartans were at least four times stronger.

Right now Captain Scott was slightly anxious, even though he was two hundred years old where half of that time was spent in the armed forces and seen his fair share, initiating first contact with an alien species was something new to him, while personally hoping they were not hostile like the other species that 2nd platoon was forced to kill due to them opening fire first…Though from the report he got their weapons, though did slightly more damage than those the UNSC had used during the 26th century, was pitifully weak compared to the one used nowadays, both magnetically accelerated rounds which resembled a 7.62mm NATOs and the various type of directed energy weapons they had in their arsenal.

The captain held up a hand and told the group to stop as their motion trackers detected faint movement fifty meters ahead in dense jungle, "Alright people…Activate cloaking and cover me, I'm going to see if these xenos are friendly…"  
A moment later thirty acknowledgement lights winked on as his platoon turned invisible behind him, cautiously standing up and making a bit of noise he could sense that weapons were being pointed in his direction from people he could not see and began slowly walking forward.

**Quarian POV.**  
The leader of 1st squad sent to scout ahead of the group stopped and pointed their weapons at the humanoid being slowly making its way towards their position with his weapon on his back and hands in the air, the universal sign of non-hostility…or at least for the species that have hands that is.  
"Captain this 1st squad; we see one of the unknown aliens, waiting for further orders."  
The COM crackled a bit before a voice came through, "Captain to 1st squad, does it see you?"  
"Negative, but it knows we are here…Should I take it out?"  
"Does it seem hostile?"  
Looking back at the creature still with his hands up and slowly making its way forward "Not at the moment..."  
"Then don't shoot, you see those ships in orbit, they can easily kill all of us if they wished…Try making peaceful contact with it, we could use another ally than another enemy."  
"Copy."  
With that the quarian stood up with his hand up facing the alien, who stopped walking as it saw him.

**Sigma POV.**  
Sigma leaned against a tree in cloak as he watched his descendants and quarian make first contact, he had been left to track the scouting squad progress while his wife watched the main body. Since the successful translation of his species own language and their allies, the sangheilis, unggoys, Mgalekgolo and Kig-yars, which was surprisingly similar to the forerunners own during the flood wars, he had learnt that the Batarian on the ground was wiped out due to foolishly opening fire first, the quarians thought that this Halo was built by a race called the 'protheans' and were looking for shelter and a way off from transmissions that he intercepted.

While from ships databanks that had been subtly hacked by all the AIs present here, which was the monitor, and the personal AIs of every other forerunner, human and san Shyuum on this installation, he and many others had learned of the Neo-Covenant, loyalist covenant, the human governing body, the United Earth Government and its military the United Nation Space Command and finally human-covenant war roughly around five hundred years ago, which in turn made the San Shyuum felt shamed for what their descendants did, while many others were not too happy at how first contact went.

On the other hand on the Quarian ship and before they were destroyed, the Batarian ships, databanks, they had learnt of the citadel council along with the quarian's history when they were a part of the citadel and how the citadel considered themselves the most powerful and influential government in the galaxy. Sigma just grinned at this, they would get a shock of their lives when they met the UNSC and the Neo-Covenant and just maybe, if the conclave decided it was time, his own civilization that they had rebuilt from the ashes. The other things he had learnt, was that a splinter group of humans was also a part of the citadel as a 'client' race along with the war with the Ranchi and Krogans around two thousand year before the apparent 'splinter' group of humans joined, which when compared with both flood wars, human-forerunner war and what he found out about human-covenant war, was quite tame in his opinion, at least from the information that was gathered.  
Clearing his head Sigma listened in on the conversation.

**General POV. **  
The ODST froze as he saw a humanoid figure stood up from the shrubs with his gun pointing in the air and they stared awkwardly at each other for a few minutes before the captain decided to speak up, "Hi there…My name is Richard Scott what yours?"  
The rest of his squad just rolled their eyes at the first words to come out of his mouth while Sigma lips twitched slightly upward as he heard that. Meanwhile the quarian along with his group that was still hidden was shocked as the alien in front of them spoke the language of the humans from the System Alliance, but to them, his armour and weapons was nothing they had ever seen the humans use, let alone the ships in orbit remotely resembled anything that they have. The quarian out in the open stuttered out in English through his translator, "A-a-are you human?"  
This time Richard and his platoon mouth dropped opened as they heard what the quarian said, "H-h-how do you know about humanity?"  
"The System Alliance, it represent the entire human population of Earth and her colonies…Aren't you apart of them?"  
"That's impossible! Earth main government is the United Earth Government not this System Alliance!"

Before the quarian could answer, a quarian still hidden yelled out and the quarian in the open looked into the sky and was closely followed by everyone there just to see hundreds of black-purple spheres open up in a few thousand km from the ring as it spat out purple ships similarly designed to the olive green ones currently in orbit, but ten of those were easily at least 50km long, the quarian didn't know what it was, while the ODST took his rifle in hand and softly growled "Covenant loyalists…"  
The quarian turned to him, "Sorry? What is that?"

A second later both fleets opened fired with on each other with directed energy weapons, missiles, lasers, nukes, MACs, heavy MACs, ship mounted Super MACs and whatever other weapons they had on board and the quarian watched in shock and awe as ships traded fire with each other with technology and weapons that far surpassed anything the citadel and Geth had in their arsenals combined.  
"Our worst enemy…"

Than inside the ODST helmet the COM channel cackled to life, "To all ground forces, you are to find shelter on the ring and hold for as long as possible, we unfortunately cannot hold against a fleet of this size! Deploy the Spartans and enter slip space and get us to the edge of the system!"  
The COM was cut off as the fleet transitioned into slip space as followed by a hundred other loyalist ships in pursuit as the rest deployed phantoms over the ring.  
Turning back to the quarian the ODST said in a more serious tone, "I don't know who or what you are, but if you and your group wishes to live, I suggest you come with us."  
"Is that a threat human…?"  
"No, merely a warning…You see the loyalists are not as…friendly as us, they would kill you first and ask question later and that is only if you are lucky. Platoon form up!"  
With that the ODST deactivated their cloaking, while to the quarian looked like the materialized from thin air before the quarian replied, "Very well, my captain has agreed for a temporary truce of survival, they will meet us here in five minutes. The ODST nodded and told his platoon to hold position. A few minutes later the quarians and humans began moving through the forest.

**Sigma POV.**  
The Dark Templar stood up to his full height as he watched the losing battle over the ring before the 'Fleetmaster' made a smart choice and call for the surviving ships to retreat and regroup, but not before one hundred of their enemy's ships followed them.  
He turned back to see hundreds of quarians slowly appear out of the tree line with their vehicles while the 'ODSTs' slightly tightened their grip on their respective weapons. He then felt a familiar presence beside him, "So seen anything interesting?"  
His wife just shook her head beside him, "Not really, no…"  
They watched and listened as the alien leader and human exchanged words before they agreed to form a temporary truce for mutual survival and with that they began heading to an entrance that led into a small military outpost big enough to accommodate a little over three hundred soldiers. As they moved out the two special operation operatives followed behind them.

**Ten minutes later, Captain Richard Scott POV. **  
Scott couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched but shook it off as the installation security systems. As he made his way to the forerunner structure under UNSC/NC control along with his platoon and 150 other aliens they have never met before.  
"This is Captain Scott to base, we have made friendly contact with the alien species which goes by the 'name' of quarians, I have managed to form a temporary truce with for our current crisis."  
"This is Lt Colonel Cooper, I have no idea how you managed to talk to them, but good work! We could use all the help we can get."  
"Trust me when I say you wouldn't believe me if I told you…"  
"Very well, get you and your platoon back ASAP; we have brute drop ships incoming ETA twenty minutes"  
"Copy…ETA three minutes to base sir."  
"Good to hear, I'll tell the others not to open fire upon contact with these new aliens."

**Quarian POV.**  
With that the COM was cut as they continue moving through in a quick pace with everyone taking periodic glances up at the sky to see swarms of purple ships coming closer. As they reached the 'base' set up by the UNSC/NC forces, the quarian saw a gigantic tunnel, that could easily fit two Makos at once when placed side by side, made of metal leading inside while soldiers began setting up defences at the entrance to the tunnel. The quarian was shocked to see similar figures in black armour similar to the one the other humans wore and humanoids wearing full body armour with a significantly different design (marines), but still look more advanced than anything they had ever seen. But what shocked the quarian most was the numbers of different aliens present, some that resemble birds carried shields and glowing weapons, while others had rifles of sorts, than there were those that look like the Volus, but seemed at least capable of limited combat, another alien reminded them of the Turian, but instead of a full mouth, they had an open one with four mandibles carrying various type of weaponries and the last alien they could see, resembled a mech of some sort wearing heavy armour, along with carrying a heavy metal shield on one arm and a cannon of some sort on the other moved around.

"Keelah what are…these people…"  
Scott just shrugged and answered back as they made their way to the tunnel, "Well, the small ones are called Unggoys, they are usually use as support or heavy weapon specialists due to their physical nature, the one that has a beak and the glowing shield is a Kig-Yar, they are usually used as support as well, such as marksmen or moving shields against small firearms, their larger cousins we nicknamed the skirmishers are fast and agile, easily able to outflank enemies and conduct rapid raids on enemy bases and if properly trained and armed, excels at the art of guerrilla warfare, the one with the mandibles and double joint legs are the sangheilis, they are strong, fast and smart, which naturally make them deadly opponents on the battlefield and capable of filling almost any roles on the battlefield and the last one…"

Scott gestured to the two armoured twelve feet giants lumbering around, "Those are Mgalekgolos, capable of decimating any platoon of troops that are not armed with a heavy weapon of some sort, and more often than not, they can still do it. They are often deployed as portable weapon platforms and walking tanks than actual infantry and try not to piss them off, that shield you see weighs two tons itself, while the whole hunter weighs approximately 4800kg…Oh and did I mention those cannons on their arms can melt through rock as well?"  
The quarians just stared in shock, they didn't think that giant of all things was actually a living being; it was even larger than Elcor.

Than before they knew it a human in similar black body armour walked up to them without his helmet on, clearly showing his human features, "Good to see you made it back Scott, the Fieldmaster in charge of this op reported the control room is already under siege from the brutes, but fortunately it's holding…But us, we don't have the numbers or firepower to keep back a dedicated assault…Well if things becomes too FUBAR, we can always fall back deeper into the installation and lock the door behind us while hoping they don't somehow unlock it and swarm in…"  
Scott just nodded while the quarian spoke up, "And what about me and my people?"

The man just glanced at the female quarian with a raise eyebrow, "So you are the aliens that they were sent to greet…Well depending on how much they send and how well we hold off, we might need your people as support."  
"And what if we said no? They are after all not our enemies; we could easily say you captured us."  
"Well…Let's just say we have a higher chance of all their ships randomly exploding in space than them listening to your pleas and then after we are all dead, well…if you are lucky, they will kill you quickly…"  
The quarian leader pondered for a few minutes before answering, "Very well…But know that we won't be used as cannon fodders."  
"Excellent, and rest assured we won't be sending your soldiers off to die while we run, how many combat capable soldiers do you have with you at the moment?"  
"This group consists of one hundred and fifty quarians and two light armoured vehicles and all of us can fight if needed…"  
"I see…so that put our numbers up to five hundred men, six hunters, seven tanks and five light vehicles…"

**Lt Colonel Cooper. **  
Before the quarians could answer a female voice spoke up behind them, "Greeting reclaimers, I am 823543 Lament Proclamation, monitor of this installation."

Immediately all guns in the area turned to face the voice, after seeing a metal ball a single violet glowing eye and recognizing what it was they all lowered their weapons, while the quarians still had their weapon pointed at it. Turning to face the quarian the ball spoke, "Please, I have analysed those weapons you have and they would barely scratch my outer casing, let alone my shields or that of the enemies you are about to face."  
The quarians didn't listen and turned to Scott, "Is that machine safe?"  
"Yes…"  
Hesitatingly the quarian lowered their weapons, "I apologise, we have…bad experiences with AIs…and we thought this was one."  
When the others heard that they decided to keep silent for the time being before the monitor spoke up again, "As I was saying, I am the monitor of this installation and as per protocol I am willing to assist you and your allies, reclaimer. I have already begun mobilizing the defences on this installation as we speak now and my sentinels have begun harassing enemy bases as well as assisting you in your survival."

As she finished her statement, a small swarm of machines flew overhead and towards the entrance as the quarian shifted uneasily.  
Cooper just nodded, "You have my thanks Lament, but the covenant have hundreds of ships here even I have my doubts we can hold for that long before our fleet returns."  
"You are correct, the meddlers have approximately six hundred and eighty-four ships out of the original seven hundred and fifty sent here and if they chose, they can overwhelm this installation standard defences with sheer numbers…But fortunately this installation have something that can easily push them back if needed, but unfortunately I cannot use it until the situation becomes too dire…"  
"And why is that?"  
"My makers does not want to reveal it without good reason and as per protocol, it's classified even to you, reclaimer, despite having equal standing with my makers."  
Cooper just sighed, "Very well, we don't have time to waste…Do you know how long before the first drop ship lands?"  
"In approximately three minutes, I suggest you refit your new allies with better weapons and armour, despite your combat skin being only a class six, theirs can barely be even considered class 1, and their weapons are not suited for prolong engagement against our current enemy."  
Cooper just nodded, "Very well, we might not have armour we can lend them at the moment, but we do have weapons…Scott, you and your platoon will prep them for combat, armoury has been set up at fall back point."  
With a nod the group made its way down the tunnel as the LT colonel returned to his duty.

**Captain Richard Scott POV.  
**As he walked down the hallway with his platoon and their new temporary allies he saw soldiers running to their positions and forerunner machines flying overhead and the quarian just whispering among themselves while glancing around nervously. The quarian CO behind him suddenly spoke up, "Can you tell me more about this place, human?"  
"All I can say it's that it was created by the forerunners as a last line of defence against an enemy that literally took down their empire…The rest are classified…"  
"I see…Who and what were these forerunners?"  
"You see those purple ships in orbit?"  
The quarian slowly nodded, "Well they worship them as gods and anyone else that believes otherwise are considered a heretic and to be wiped out…But in reality the forerunners were just a very advanced civilization that went extinct around a hundred thousand years ago. If there are anymore that survived…Well, we haven't met them yet."  
"And what does this installation do?"  
"Sorry but that's also classified under our laws…"  
"Than what isn't classified?"  
"…I'll be honest with you, we do not know much about the forerunners, we don't even know what they look like, but what we do know are considered either disturbing or important enough to be considered classified material by the top brass, even I don't know much and I basically told you just about everything I knew…We are at the armoury now…"  
"I see…Well thank you for your time…"  
"Captain Richard Scott, ODST."  
"Well thank you for answering my questions captain, not many people will give a quarian much thought and usually just ignore us at best."  
The ODST just nodded, "I see, now that you know my name, it's only fair I know yours."  
The quarian just shrugged, "Lia'Nara Vas Orib."  
With that the quarian fanned out all over the place whispering among themselves as they curiously peered at the various weapons stored inside the creates.

**General POV. **  
"Captain, these weapons are…strange to say the least, my omni tool is not detecting any element zero in them, just like everything else they use…and is much more heavier…I mean what do these even shoot?" said a quarian as he held up a black rifle with a counter and a scope.  
"That's a BR205HBHE SR gauss battle rifle. It shoots a three round burst of uranium tipped high explosive slugs that weighs around 10 grams each that are accelerated up to 4700 metres a second and can be altered to fire at full auto, though not as fast as the Assault rifle nor can it hold as much ammo per clip. It also has a clip of 42 rounds and since it's magnetically accelerated out of the barrel, the recoil is almost non-existent. The gun also plays hell with physical armour and light vehicles and is still pretty good against shields, not as good as directed energy weapons, but good enough. It's a medium short range to medium long range, and is not recommended for either direct CQC or extremely long range. All in all it's probably one of the most versatile weapons in our arsenal."  
The quarians slowly nodded, "How do you get it to work without element zero?"  
The ODST helping them just stared blankly, "Sorry? What is Element zero?"  
"You don't know what element zero is? It's the substance that enables space travel, FTL, and just about everything we use and the rest of the galaxy uses! Without it, we would have none of those of our current technologies!"  
"…Well…I guess you just met a group that doesn't use it…"

With that the ODST walked away to another quarian that was curiously looking at a fuel-rod cannon, but was a bit nervous in touching it.  
"Keelah…These humans and their allies are different to say the least…To think, everything we and the citadel have achieved, they can do better without the aid of element zero…Just think, no more strip mining of planet, no more discharging our drives, it could save us countless hours of labour and frustrations."  
"Remember, they might have helped us and even going so far as to let us borrow their weapons, but we know nothing about them, nor they us. Even if they don't hate us like the rest of the galaxy does now, they might once they find out about our history. Besides, even if they don't, what reason do they have to give us any of their technology? Just about everything we have they probably have as well…All I'm saying is, don't get your hopes up."  
The small group nodded to their captain before some took the black weapons along with a few clips of ammo, while others walked away to see what other weapons there are.

Twenty minutes passed and all the quarians were armed up and nervously fidgeting with their respective chosen weapons. Many were still shocked at the fact that they didn't use element zero and more so that they have managed to create handheld DEW the size of a normal rifle, albeit significantly heavier.

After showing them how each weapon worked, the loyalist had already started their attack ten minutes ago, and so far, they lost more than the UNSC/NC forces trying to charge a choke point guarded by tanks and machinegun turrets along with sentinel Enforcers. So now it was time that the quarian got a glimpse at their enemy.

Thirty Quarian were to go along to the entrance to support the front along with their two vehicles to support the tanks, while another ten were to go to the top of the spire and provide sniper fire along with the people up there, the rest will be stationed throughout the base as support if the line breaks and the captain herself was in the command and control room with the Lt Colonel as he watched the hologram of the surrounding area.

When the first quarian first reached their designated position, they were shocked at what they saw and a little scared to. They saw aliens, termed brutes by their temporary allies, charged up towards the entrance, shooting as they came, their shields deflecting both physical projectiles and energy weapons, before being overwhelmed by the heavy fire and killed, and this repeated hundreds of times every few minutes, slowly they took aim with their weapons and added their fire into the fray killing more, before twenty more enemy drop ships came in dropping off more troops and shooting into the entrance, killing some humans and aliens, and other ships were shot down from heavy weapons.

Then they saw one of the most feared enemy by the UNSC/NC, a brute chieftain with a gravity hammer came hurtling impossibly fast towards their positions, batting away any soldiers that were in the way like flies and heading towards a quarian. Said quarian fired full auto with her plasma weapon, managing to break the shield, but unfortunately, his armour held and he kicked the quarian to the ground and grinned before raising his hammer above his head to finish her off.

Said quarian closed her eyes waiting for death before she heard a snap-hiss of something closely followed by a scream of pain by the brute in front of her. Slowly opening her eye, she saw an alien, which she identified as a sangheili, in white armour holding a blade made of energy of some kind that was going through the brute's chest. While the brute face just looked shock before the sangheili pulled his sword out and the brute just fell back dead.  
"Thanks…"  
The sangheili just nodded before he put his sword away and kill another brute with his plasma rifle. And she slowly stood up, wincing a bit as she felt her chest and dented environmental suit.

**UNSC Command and Control centre.**  
Cooper watched the tactical hologram along with quarian captain as some of his soldiers worked on monitoring the battlefield, "Sir! Thirty Phantoms inbound, all of them with wraiths and reinforcements!  
"Sorry, but what are these wraiths?"

Cooper just responded without taking his eye off from the hologram, "Covenant heavy armor, shoots plasma mortars with temperatures up to if not exceeding 2000 degrees Celsius with extreme precision. The new wraiths employed by them have strong energy shielding, faster firing rates from both primary and secondary weapons, thicker armor and a faster moving projectile, making them more deadly than the ones employed during the covenant war."

The quarian slowly nodded, "How many do they have at the moment? Also will our forces be able to hold?"  
Cooper just shrugged, "They have around thirty wraiths compared to our seven scorpions, but we have an advantage of fighting in a choke and with a roof over our heads, so considering that a wraith plasma mortar fires at an angle, making them more akin to an artillery than a battle tank, their capabilities will be severely limited if they chose to have a direct confrontation with us in here."  
Lia nodded, "How long will we be able to hold against an onslaught like this?"  
"The front line ammo is slowly being depleted, even with the constant supplies run from our warthogs, maybe another ten to fifteen minutes before we have to fall back to the second line."

Before Lia could respond, one of the operators shouted at the top of his lungs, "SIR! COVENANT HAD JUST DEPLOYED TWO SCARABS!"  
"Tell them to fall back to the second line, take anything useful with them!"  
"Orders sent! Front line is falling back!"  
Lia meanwhile just stared at Cooper as unease began to fill her from the human's tone, "What's a Scarab?"  
Pressing a few button, the hologram changed from a tactical map filled with dot to the outside part of the facility showing the quarian captain two massive purple beasts periodically shooting a continuous green 'goo' into the entrance.  
"H-how are we supposed to beat something like that?" said the quarian captain with a slight stutter in her voice and a hint of fear as she stared at the two giant behemoths.  
"With what is currently available to us at the moment, we aren't, just be thankful they can't enter this facility or that will be where the real trouble begins…"  
Lia nodded as she watched the brutes eagerly swarm into the entrance of the building as their own forces fell back.

**Edge of Unknown System: Nine hours since the fleet retreated.  
**The Fleetmaster just stared at the hologram of the system, showing the number of brute ships that were in the system and sighed. After they had exited, his fleet of fifty remaining ship was force to engage a brute fleet twice their size. They won, but not being whittled down to twenty ships with every ship, including his own suffering from damage of some kind. Now he wished that they had installed the AI into his ships two weeks ago instead of being put off into a month time as they waited for the rest of his fleet to finish construction. He was snapped out of his musing as the sensor operator spoke up, "Sir detecting multiple slip space ruptures! IFF matches that of the human 8th rapid reaction fleet!"

The Fleetmaster sighed in relief and a minute later five hundred slip space portal opened and spewed out multiple human ships of various classes all larger than six hundred metres, the largest being the a 10km long ship designed solely by human hands a few decades after the war, which they dubbed the 'siege carrier'.  
"Fleetmaster, human flagship is hailing us!"  
"Patch it through."

A hologram of a well-dressed human in a highly decorated uniform appeared on the screen, "Fleetmaster…I thought the 20th had seventy five brand new ships at their disposal, not twenty ships that looks like it can barely survive another fight…"  
The Fleetmaster growled at this, "That is correct admiral, but the brutes came with a force of seven hundred and fifty ships strong and we were forced to retreat, and after we dropped out on the edge of the system, another one hundred followed us and we were forced to engage. It is fortunate that they didn't send more or we might not be here talking right now."

The admiral nodded, "That complicate things a bit…What about the halo?" "We have managed to land a significant ground force to secure it before they came, I'm not sure how many still survives and how much is under our control…"  
"Very well. The Fleet of Furious redemption sent by the Arbiter will be arriving in fifteen minutes; we will wait till than until we move out."  
The Fleetmaster nodded and the channel was cut as they waited.

Fifteen minutes later, hundreds of slip space portals opened up and seven hundred NC designed ships that still held to the classic designs of the old covenant, exited, boosting their number up to one thousand four hundred and twenty ships and a minutes later they transitioned into slip space heading back towards the ring.

**Installation 08: Eight hour since initial assault on reclaimers and their allies.  
Sigma POV.  
**Sigma just watched the Jiralhanaes set up a base just outside the entrance of the facility, after two hours of recklessly and stupidly charging into superior fire at a choke, which he had only seen such tactics when facing the flood, and not being able to be supported by any type of armor, other than their light vehicles, which were destroyed as soon as it was seen, the Jiralhanaes and their leaders finally came to the conclusion that they would lose more than they would gain, considering they only push back the front with the support of two heavy assault walkers. So in response, they set up a base at the entrance of this facility to wait them out.  
Similarly, any pockets of resistance left on this ring were well fortified enough to make them stop and rethink their strategy, and it has been five hours since a weapon of any sort was last used.

Sigma sighed; he hated being to watch as well as hear reports about UNSC and allied fortification being torn asunder by the Jiralhanaes superior numbers, it brought back many bad memories from the three wars he had fought in. His wife just put her hand on his shoulder, "You know they fought very well for being so handicapped in the first place…Besides I think it won't be long before we are allowed to intervene."  
Sigma turned to look at her with a curiosity marred behind his helmet, "And how do you know that?"  
Delta shrugged, "Call it a gut feeling…"  
"Well I hope your gut is right…Cause I hate being made to watch…"  
"Join the club."  
As the two of them continued to observe the Jiralhanae mulling around their base, they heard their respective AIs spoke, "Slip space ruptures detected!"  
A minute later, over a thousand slip space portals opened up and ships from the UNSC and NC exited and began to engage the now outnumbered Jiralhanae fleet with ease.

**Unknown space: System Alliance/Citadel scout group. Nine hours in FTL. **  
"Sir we will be arriving in the system in four minutes!"  
The turian captain nodded, "Tell all ships to power up kinetic barriers and weapons and prepare for combat against the pirate ships."  
"Orders sent!"

Every ship began to power up their weapons and shields and when they exited FTL to expect an empty system and maybe a garden world and along with a small pirate fleet, but what they saw shock them.

Instead of an empty system it had a giant artificial ring that was larger than the citadel itself and the system was filled to the brim with ships, many which can be considered larger than a dreadnaught trading fire with directed energy weapons, projectiles, missiles and even with nuclear weapons, which was illegal in the citadel. But to their astonishment, both parties had shielding of some sort that was able to deflect these types of weapons. So far the purple ships were outnumbered and losing to the similarly designed green ones and the grey bulky ones.

"Sensor, have they detected us in the system yet?"  
"No clue sir. If they had, than they are obviously too preoccupied to deal with us at the moment."  
"I suppose that's good news…Give me a report on the system."  
"Well there are approximately five garden worlds in the system, all of them have artificial satellites in orbit around them, a giant ring world measuring at 30,000km in diameter, and a total of around two thousand one hundred ships exchanging fire and none of them have a trace of Eezo on them…"  
"No Eezo? Than that means this must be their home system and all their fleets…But to think so many different species in one place…perhaps the protheans had something to do with it?"  
"I don't know whether or not the protheans did what you just said, but I think you should take a look at this…"

The turian captain walked over the view screen as it showed the largest grey vessel measuring at ten km, "What am I looking at here operator?"  
Zooming in it clearly showed the words '_UNSC Changing Tides'_. The turian captain stared in shock for a few second before issuing a new order, "Com officer! Get me a line to the System Alliance lead ship NOW!"  
A second later they were connected and the captain of the human cruiser appeared on screen, "What do I owe the pleasure captain…"  
The turian captain kept a calm façade, "Why does the grey 'unknown' ships have English on them? What is this _'UNSC?'_ What else have you humans been keeping from us?"  
By the end of it his voice was dripping with anger and hate. Meanwhile the human captain expression remained neutral as the turian talked and accused his race before responding; "I and my crew were discussing about it earlier, and we have no clue why they use English and even if they are human."  
"Don't lie to me! Only your race in the entire galaxy uses English and your people said the System Alliance represented Earth and all her colonies when they joined the citadel!"  
"Please if you would let me finish."

The turian force back a retort and nodded, "Like I said before we are not even sure if they are really human, maybe they are maybe they are not and this could just be a strange coincidence of all thing, no matter how low the chances are of this happening. Also it's like you said, the System Alliance only represents _Earth_ and all _her colonies_, not the entire human race, and if these are humans, perhaps the protheans could have interfered fifty thousand years ago and transported a small group off world and they evolved from somewhere else. Besides if we had ships like those when the first contact war began, do you really think we would have lost Shanxi to you turians in the first place?"

The turian captain growled at the last insult, but none the less kept his anger in check, after all he wasn't stupid and saw how big those ships were compared to theirs, "Very well…I'll take your word for now, but I'm sending a report to the citadel so anymore question will be asked by them." With that the connection cut and the captain turned back to view the battle in the distance at the ring.

A minute later, thousands of black purple spheres opened up behind the purple fleet, surprising everyone, and adding to their shock further more purple ships exited and began to fire upon the now outnumbered green and grey ships.

**On board Covenant loyalist super carrier: ****_Bane of Heretics._****  
Prophet of Patience.**  
After the death of the prophet of reclaimation two hundred years ago when he attempted to wipe out the heretics for a second time and failed, the prophet of patience was than chosen as his successor. As he watched his outnumbered fleet getting destroyed one by one by the heretics, fury began to fill him.  
"Fleetmaster!"  
A brute chieftain with a gravity hammer knelt down in front of the prophet, "What does the holy one wishes?"  
"Call in the reinforcements…We will burn the heretics from this system before lighting this ring, more glorious than the others that the gods have left for us to claim! And from here we will begin our great journey! For it will not be denied to us any longer!"  
"It shall be done!"  
With a roar from the chieftain the bridge sprang into action and two minutes later four thousand slip space portal appeared and ships of various classes exited boosting their number to four thousand two hundred ships.

**Installation 08 military command and control room. **  
The commodore watched on hologram as the battle rages on above him on land and space, from everything they had learnt from the new comers. The Jiralhanaes and their leaders had gotten just about everyone, himself included very pissed off.

The forerunners were angry because they began to kill the humans in their name because of a lie, which when it was exposed they still believe in said lie, the humans, because they wished to wipe their decedents and their allies off the face of this galaxy because of said lie, while the san Shyuums just felt ashamed because it was their species which began and still kept to their 'beliefs' in the first place, despite the overwhelming evidence of it being false. Right now the conclave was debating whether or not to send a fleet to assist the UNSC and their allies and reveal themselves, or let the two parties fight it out.

A forest green hologram of a forerunner female in a robe than popped up in front of the commodore, "Commodore, approximately four thousand slip space ruptures detected in ring's vicinity. IFF matches that of the Jiralhanaes. Should I send the Conclave and the War council an update?"  
The commodore just nodded, "Update sent…Both parties has agreed to reveal themselves to the rest of the galaxy, the high war council has granted you permission to use the 2nd rapid reaction fleet if you deem necessary to terminate the aggressors." "Very well…Mobilize all forces on this installation and send the fleet in…"

As the words left his mouth, his personal AI sent the orders and five seconds later, approximately four hundred and fifty slip space portal opened between the two combatants and forerunner, human and san Shyuum designed ships entered the area, with the leading flagship at forty km in length.

* * *

_A decade or so back, before we met the humans, a group of Salarian scientists and archaeologists found a small ruin of some sort. It wasn't Prothean and it wasn't any ruin that we have seen before, but it is technology uses element Zero. Yet it was more advanced than us and older then the protheans. Later the scientists discovered the race to be called the 'Leviathans', a race billions of years old. Unfortunately many of the technology have already been degraded to the point of unsalvageable. But what we managed to salvage has increase the efficiency of how we can apply element zero as well as open new options on how we can use it.  
_**-Sparatus: Turian councillor;  
Interview about the 'Leviathan' ruins**

* * *

**Galactic Codex.  
-Star-ships:  
** -**System Alliance:  
**Although the number of Alliance ships number significantly less than that of the Council races own fleets as well as having significantly weaker weapons, Alliance Navel strength can be considered quite 'large' when contrasted to other species within the citadel with fleets numbering in the low thousands and eight of those being dreadnaughts, which protects key locations for the Alliance. When the System Alliance met with the Citadel, the Citadel gave them technology as part of the agreement and ships within the fleet are still currently being retrofitted with these technology.  
-**Corvettes.**  
Originally built as scouts and surveyors, these ten men crafts are only larger than a Long sword fighter, but smaller than the corvettes the UNSC uses. These crafts are primarily not used for combat due to their inferior weapons even in comparison to a frigate and can be easily targeted and taken down by a squadron of fighters.  
**Weapons:**  
-Disruptor Torpedoes (X 10)  
-GARDIAN lasers (X 6)  
**Armour: **2 inches  
**Atmosphere rated: **Yes  
**FTL capable: **Yes  
**Kinetic Barriers/shielding: **Yes (5 kiloton damage deflected on average)  
**Height: **25 metres  
**Width: **60 metres  
**Length: **80 metres

-**Frigates.  
**Frigates are significantly larger than corvettes, but still relatively small when contrasted to a cruiser. These ships are usually used as escorts, petrol flotilla, screens for larger vessels, scouting and many other uses. These crafts, though slower than a corvette, are still stronger than one and relatively faster than other ships used by the System Alliance. Though caution is advised when taking on larger ships such as cruisers as they lack the weapons to punch through the kinetic barriers of one on their own, hence why they are used in 'wolf packs' when on offense.  
**Weapons:  
**-Disruptor Torpedoes (X 30)  
-GARDIAN Laser (X 15)  
-Thanix cannons (X 2: Given to Alliance by The Citadel who in turn reversed engineered from Leviathans)  
**Armour: **Four and a half inches.  
**Atmosphere rated: **Yes  
**FTL capable: **Yes (15 light years a day)  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Yes (Eleven Kilotons damage deflected: Currently being refitted with a 'cyclonic' version discovered from the research done on the Leviathans and Protheans, which deflects approximately 35 kiloton worth of kinetic energy)  
**Height: **55 metres  
**Width:** 45 metres  
**Length:**150-200 meters (depending of the class)

**-Cruisers  
**These ships though more common and weaker than dreadnaughts, are less common and stronger than frigates. These medium sized ships are usually the flagship for petrol flotillas and the ones to take the hits in the battle. These ships are also the 'bloody infantries' when committed in battle, as dreadnaughts are rare commodities only used in the most critical of battles and frigates usually lack the firepower to deal 'serious damage' to larger and hardened targets, hence where cruisers are sent en masse to destroy the enemy.  
**Weapons:**  
-Medium Mass Accelerator(X 1) (16 kiloton damage every 6 sec)  
-Disruptor torpedoes (X 50)  
-GARDIAN Lasers (X 30)  
-Thanix cannons (X 4)  
-Heavy Anti-ship cannons for knife fights (X 12)**  
Armour: **1.5 metres  
**Atmosphere rated:** Low gravity worlds only.(X0.8)  
**FTL capable:** Yes (15 light years a day)  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Yes (40 kilotons): Refitting with a cyclonic variant(129 kilotons)  
**Height: **75 metres  
**Width: **145 metres  
**Length: **400-500 metres(depending on class)

-**Carriers**  
An system Alliance innovation being adopted by the Citadel Council. Carriers are almost if not larger than some dreadnaughts. But despite that fact, these ships only have the combat capabilities a little below a cruiser and are slower than one as well. It's massive size comes from not it's armour or weapon size, but simply from it relatively large hangers which carries hundreds of fighters as well as shuttles for planetary actions. It also sports light cannons on it is underbelly dedicated for light orbital bombardments. These ships are almost as rare as a dreadnaught due to the cost of making one.  
**Weapons  
**-Light Mass Mass accelerators(X 1) (10 Kiloton every 5 sec)  
-Disruptor Torpedoes(X 100)  
-GARDIAN lasers(X 50)  
-Defensive Thanix cannons (X 2)  
-Light cannons (X 6: Orbital bombardment only)  
-Fighters (X 450)  
-Interceptors (X 100)  
**Armour: **One metre  
**Atmosphere rated: **No  
**FTL capable: **Yes  
**Kinetic Barriers:** Yes (50 kilotons). Refitting with a Cyclonic Variant (161 kilotons)  
**Height: **120 metres  
**Width: **450 metres  
**Length:**1069 metres

-**Dreadnoughts  
**These mighty ships could take on any kind of ships one on four and come out on top. Armed with the most powerful weaponries available, they are essentially flying fortresses in space to anyone within the System Alliance and Citadel. Bringing even one of these ships into an engagement signifies the importance of that engagement. The Alliance currently has eight of these types of ships in service. Another two was under construction during the time of first contact but by making an alliance with the Citadel, the Alliance fell under the 'Treaty of Farixen' and was forced to decommission them, hence pouring billions of credit down the proverbial drain.  
**Weapons**  
-Mass Accelerators (X 1) (28 kilotons every 5 sec)  
-Disruptor torpedoes (X 150)  
-GARDIAN lasers (X 90)  
-Heavy Thanix cannons (X 4)  
-Heavy Anti-ship cannons (X 20)  
**-**Fighters (X 50)  
**-**Interceptors (X 30)**  
Armour:** Two metres  
**Atmosphere rated:** No  
**FTL capable:** Yes  
**Kinetic barriers:** Yes (120 kilotons) Refitting with Cyclonic Variant (200 kilotons)  
**Height: **95 metres  
**Width:** 250 metres  
**Length:**1034 metres

**-****Citadel navy:**  
The combined might of the Citadel Navy in contrast to System Alliance navy is many times larger, with weapons more powerful too, thanks to the Leviathans. But it's the three council races that hold the largest and most advanced fleets are the Turians, Salarians and the Asaris. Individually, the three races design of ships are different to the each other, the same with all races in the Citadel, as each race design and construct their own fleets, with the Salarians have smaller dreadnaughts than even the System Alliance measuring only at 932 metres in the length, but despite being smaller, it's out fitted with the most advanced weaponry available in Citadel space, similarly with the rest if their ships.

The Turians, the 'peacekeepers' and main military branch of the Citadel have the largest fleets as well as having the largest fleet of dreadnaughts. Though not as 'high tech' as the Salarian ships, the amount of ships and the damage that they can deal put them as the strongest military fraction.

Finally the Asari, despite being the oldest race on the Citadel, being the ones to discover it in the first place, the Asari has the overall weakest navy out of the three, being less advanced than the Salarians and numbering less than the Turians. But their saving grace is their so-called 'super-dreadnought', '_Destiny Ascension_', which is capable of taking on three normal dreadnoughts head on and come out victorious. This ship is the flagship of the Citadel Station Defence fleet.

-**Citadel** **Corvettes.**  
Functions the same as System Alliance Corvettes, these ships are not made for direct combat against an enemy unless no other options are available. These ships are not employed by the Turians and Asaris as it is an incredibly useless ship in their eyes by the former and the latter simply has no use for them, while mainly employed by Salarians to scout and insert and extract STG operatives.  
**Weapons:**  
-Disruptor Torpedoes (X 8)  
-GARDIAN lasers (X 4)  
-Thanix Cannon (X 1)  
**Armour: **3 inches  
**Atmosphere rated: **Yes  
**FTL capable: **Yes  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Yes (8 kiloton damage deflected on average)  
**Height: **16 metres  
**Width: **54 metres  
**Length: **60 metres

-**Citadel** **Frigates.  
**Frigates employed by the citadel races vary among races, with the Turians having more armour, weapons and kinetic barriers on theirs, but as a consequence move significantly slower than an average frigate, which proved…annoying against the System Alliance during first contact, being constantly out maneuvered by theirs. While the Salarians usually go for the lighter Armour, less but more advanced weapons and place stealth and speed over all else, could easily outpace frigates employed by all other races. The Asaris have frigates generally balanced, similar to that of the System Alliance, though slightly larger, hence presenting a larger target.  
**Weapons: (Turian, Salarian, Asari)  
**-Disruptor Torpedoes (X 50, X 25, X 35)  
-GARDIAN Laser (X 30, X 35, X 20)  
-Thanix cannons (X 5, X 4, X 4)  
-Heavy Anti-ship cannon (X 2: Turian only)  
**Armour: **Eight inches, Three and a half inch, 5 inches.  
**Atmosphere rated: **Yes, Yes, Yes  
**FTL capable: **Yes (25 light years a day)  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Yes: Cyclonic variant (25 kilotons(kT), 30kT, 25kT)  
**Height: **75 metres, 35 metres, 50 metres  
**Width:** 95 metres, 45 metres, 50 metres)  
**Length:** 210 meters, 160 metres, 190 metres  
**  
-Cruisers  
**Similarly to the System Alliance, these ships are generally the one leading other ships into battle when the use of a dreadnought is seen as not needed. They can a lot of punishment and dish out just as much damage. These ships are probably, on average, the most versatile ships when it comes to actual navel engagements.  
**Weapons:**  
-Medium Mass Accelerator(X 1) (30 kT/5sec, 25Kt/4sec, 20 kT/4sec)  
-Disruptor torpedoes (X 80, X 40, X 55)  
-Guardian Lasers (X 50, X 80, X 40 )  
-Thanix cannons (X 10, X 8, X 8)  
-Heavy Anti-ship cannons for knife fights (X 15, X 6, X 10)**  
Armour: **2 metres, 1 metres, 1.3 metres  
**Atmosphere rated:** Low gravity worlds only.(X0.4, X0.9, X0.8)  
**FTL capable:** Yes (25 light years a day)  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Cyclonic variant(150 kilotons)  
**Height: **85 metres, 65 metres, 70 metres  
**Width: **185 metres, 125 metres, 148 metres  
**Length: **552 metres, 453 metres, 473 metres

-**Carriers**  
An idea being thrown around by the council whether to adopt or not. Made by the System Alliance and show-cased to the Citadel council after the treaty was made. Right now they are leaning towards a yes, as the tactical options during a battle presented by such a ship is relatively large. Even though the debate is not over yet, plans are already being drawn up and the Turians are about to begin the construction of one. These ships are not limited by the Treaty of Farixen.  
**Weapons  
**-Classified, N/A, N/A  
**Armour: **Classified, N/A, N/A  
**Atmosphere rated: **No  
**FTL capable: **Yes  
**Kinetic Barriers:** Yes (Classified, N/A, N/A)  
**Height: **Classified, N/A, N/A  
**Width: **Classified, N/A, N/A  
**Length:**Classified, N/A, N/A

-**Dreadnoughts  
**The most powerful type of ships that protects Citadel Space. A dreadnought made by any species is guaranteed to bring fear to any sane fleet commander and usually force an opposing fleet to retreat as 'only a dreadnought can take on another dreadnought'. These ships, like the System Alliance own dreadnoughts, are rarely used is naval engagements, and when even one is, the council consider the engagement to be extremely important.  
**Weapons**  
-Mass Accelerators (X 1) (42 kT/6 sec, 35 kT/4 sec, 35 kT/5 sec)  
-Disruptor torpedoes (X 250, X 100, X 200)  
-GARDIAN lasers (X 60, X 150, X 80)  
-Heavy Thanix cannons (X 8, X 10, X 6)  
-Heavy Anti-ship cannons (X 35, X 10, X 15)  
**-**Fighters (X 30, X 80 ,X 60)  
**-**Interceptors (X 10, X 40, X 30)**  
Armour:** Four metres, 1.5 metres, 2.5 metres  
**Atmosphere rated:** No  
**FTL capable:** Yes  
**Kinetic barriers:** Cyclonic Variant (250 kilotons)  
**Height: **155 metres, 80 metres, 300 metres  
**Width:** 300 metres, 140 metres, 300 metres  
**Length:**1100 metres, 859 metres, 978 metres.

**-Destiny Ascension:**  
A special dreadnought built by the Asari during the discovery of the Citadel space station and one of the few dreadnoughts continuously updated with up to date tech instead of sending it into the scrap heap. It is the largest and most powerful is citadel space and not even the insane and dull witted would dared to take on this behemoth of a ship, or at least not without a small fleet of ships engaging it at any one time. Unlike 'normal' dreadnoughts, when this ship is used during an offensive engagement, it means that the council really wants someone or something…put down permanently.  
**Weapons:  
**-Heavy mass Accelerators (50 kilotons/5 sec)  
-Disruptor torpedoes (400)  
-GARDIAN Lasers (250)  
-Heavy Anti-ship Cannons (X 20)  
-Recently design Heavy Anti-ship Flak Cannons (X 20)  
-Heavy Thanix Cannons (X 10)  
-Fighter (X 100)  
-Interceptors (X 150)  
-Fusion nuclear warhead (5 MT) (X 1)  
**Armour:** 5 metres with one metre worth of 'Silaris Armour' outer plating.  
**Atmosphere rated:** No  
**FTL capable: **Yes  
**Kinetic Barriers: **Yes: Cyclonic Variant (400 Kiloton)  
**Height: **500 metres  
**Width: **300 metres  
**Length:**3500 metres

**-End Codex**

* * *

**R&R. I know I buffed the citadel a bit, despite many saying not to do so, but I did say previously, via PM to some, that I might have to do it, to keep things interesting. As you can see here, this is not a really over powering buff, and the numbers I just pulled out if my a** based on their size and what I believe that they can carry. If anyone have the actual statistic, PM me and let me know. Also feel free to ask any question you might have and I'll gladly answer them, just don't ask when the next update is or I'll just ignore you…**


	4. Chapter 2: Second Contact

**Disclaimer: Contents of Halo belongs to Bungie/343 industries while Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and any starcraft reference made belongs to Blizzard. Anything else that you recognise from games, movies, shows, etc belong to their respective makers, while I hold rights to all OCs.**

* * *

**Alright, second chapter is up, and I hope that, to quote what Dur'id the Druid wrote, 'jumping the shark' on this chapter. Also for those who said I needed more spacing in my chapters, I hope that this is not over doing it. ∑**

* * *

_There is a difference between being cold and being cruel…Someone that is cruel takes joy in watching or inflicting suffering upon others, while someone that is cold does not cause pain to others for their personal enjoyment, nor do they enjoy watching nor being a part of it, but do so more along the line of making the 'hard choices' and doing what they believe must be done to survive…And that was what we misunderstood about the humans…They were cold, not cruel, despite what some of the texts may say.  
_**-The librarian.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Second Contact.**

* * *

**Assault carrier: ****_Divine Intervention_****.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.  
**The Fleetmaster just clicked his mandible in nervousness as four thousand brute ships entered the system and began opening fire on the fleet destroying many ships, both human and sangheili. Despite this they were forced to fight back having nowhere else to run. "Where did the brutes get such a large fleet? I thought we destroyed the last of their ships when we assaulted Dosiac after their last attack…"

"Apparently they have set up base elsewhere and bided their time…"

Second after second, ships were destroyed one after another from the overwhelming number of ships, and half a minute later less than half the total number of ships they began out with remained, with half of those destroyed being capital ships themselves, than all of a sudden hundreds of slip space portal appeared in the middle of the two fleets, "Fleetmaster! Multiple slip space ruptures detected! IFF does not match that of brute, NC or UNSC!"

The Fleetmaster growled as the Fleetmaster moved to the screen that showed the outside of his ship and saw hundreds of slip space portals open. Then hundreds of ships that held obvious forerunner designs began to enter real space, with the largest dwarfing all the others ships within the area at forty kilometres long and every single ship from both side just floated where they were, not sure what to do next. Inside the bridge that was filled with activity mere moments ago was now deftly silent as they saw the ships, even the Fleetmaster held noticeable surprise on his features. "H-h-how did the brutes find a forerunner fleet let alone activate it. Did they successfully kidnap a human or something?" asked one of the operators with shock and a slight hint of fear.

Before the Fleetmaster could answer the officer stationed at sensors shouted, "Detecting energy build up! Forerunner fleet is preparing to fire."

The Fleetmaster just growled lightly, right now with their fleet at half strength and many other ships damaged, they had no chance against the forerunner fleet…Not like they had much of a chance to begin with, after all with the few forerunner warships recovered, it showed they were equipped with many weapons and technology that still surpassed and eluded them. To their surprise, and the surprise of many through the fleet, the forerunner fleet didn't fire into them, but into the brute fleet with hundreds of blue lances of energy from each ship, immediately disabling shields and piercing hulls, destroying multiple 'small' tonnage ships at once, while the medium to larger sized ones were able to take hits from multiple ships before they to themselves were crippled or destroyed. The entire NC/UNSC fleet let out a breath that they didn't know they were holding and watched the unknown fleet charging into the brute ships who returned fire with everything they had.

To their surprise the entire fleet transitioned into slip space only to reappear behind them a moment later and continued the onslaught from behind.  
**  
Unknown space: System Alliance/Citadel scout group: Observing the battle.  
**The turian captain watched in surprise, fascination and envy of the new ships that entered the battle. They arrived the same way as the other purple ships did, but they were obviously much more powerful than what the other two factions had, capable destroying many of purple ships in a second, while the largest ship they had was almost as large as the citadel itself. Than after the first volley of some sort of blue energy beam, the unknown ships began charging in towards the line of the purple ships which responded by opening fire with everything they had. All of a sudden the entire fleet was swallowed up by the same black-purple portals they use for what was hypothesised as their method of FTL. He thought they had ran away, but was proven wrong as a second later those very same portal opened up behind the purple fleet in perfect formation and they fired another volley of blue energy beams into the purple fleet after exiting destroying hundreds of more ships.  
**  
Installation 08 groundside: Sigma POV.**  
Delta and Sigma, both standing around three and a half meters tall, were imposing figures to most and even to the brutes as they were in the middle of their camp with a company of Promethean and Templar warriors wreaking havoc.

When the initial assaults began, the two that were already there didn't wait for the reinforcement to be teleported to them as they both just teleported onto the rear of the two scarabs in the area and destroyed it by overloading the back core before literally tearing into the base itself. Thirty seconds after the two scarabs were destroyed their reinforcement came. A minute after, a quarter of the brutes in the camp were either dead or dying.  
**  
**Sigma than heard a roar and turn towards the sound to see a Jiralhanae chieftain rushing him with a gravity hammer and before the brute could swing it, Sigma grabbed it with one hand before pulling the weapon out of the brute's hand before hitting the chieftain with his own weapon, killing him instantly and sending seven meters into the air.

"You could have just shot him you know…" said Spes

Sigma just shot another brute as he responded to his AI statement, "Well I wanted to see why the higher ranking Jiralhanaes prefer those weapons over others."

"Did you find out why?"

"Aside from being able to send your enemies meters into the air and cracking all their bones at once…Not really no…"

Spes just silently sighed as he observed the battle and coordinated with the other AIs in the area.  
**  
Installation 08: Command and control room: Thirty minute after the purge of all aggressors in the system. Commodore POV.  
**The commodore sat in the room watching the holograms that showed the results of both ground and space battles with a pleased expression. After the mobilization of the forces tasked to this ring, they had effectively crushed all Jiralhanae resistance within fifteen minutes. It seemed the old generations of Prometheans and Templars along with the few Dark Templars and Ghost operatives that were deployed were as still as deadly and efficient as they were a hundred thousand years ago if not more so, like seen in the memories of soldiers, both alive and fallen, within the domain or described within the old text in the archives. While the newer generations, though a bit reckless, were still a force to be reckoned with. The ground battle lasted no more than twenty minutes with the brutes caught so off guard.

While the space battle only lasted five minutes longer, would have lasted at least another fifteen longer if the fleet above hadn't decided to just stop wasting time with the point defence lasers on medium charge, a weapon that ships have equipped to deal with light capitals, missiles, fighters, gunships and unshielded targets, and unleashed their entire arsenal of anti-ship weapons all at once in massive lightshow onto the Jiralhanae 4000 strong fleet, turning it into a sea of cooling hulls in as little as three minutes, with the smart ones, including the 30km long flag ship of theirs retreating through slip-space, which in total, consists of less than 200 hundred ships, after all their own ships had been optimized to deal with flood captured forerunner, ancient human and San Shyuum ships, while being outnumbered five hundred to one and have a decent shot at winning against those odds and when compared to the covenant ships, which were hardly as advanced as their own warships of similar class that were captured by flood a hundred thousand years ago, along with their comparatively small number at what the flood usually sent at them…Well…it was destined to end badly for the loyalists the moment the fight began…

"Commodore, I have sent an update to the Conclave, they are preparing a team of diplomat to meet these people. They should arrive within fifteen hours."

"Very well…Keep me updated on the situation…And if our guests have time, I would like to personally meet them."

"Request sent to Lament…Request confirmed, she is asking now."

"Thank you."

With that said the AI disappeared and the commodore turned his attention back to the hologram of the ring and assessing the situation.  
**  
Installation 08: UNSC base, Captain Richard Scott.  
**Hours passed as the covenant blockaded them inside the building, turning it into a war of attrition when the enemy felt that the building they occupied now wasn't worth the amount of Brutes they were losing to the defenders. He was on the Third line of defence with his platoon and twenty other soldiers along with the five remaining tanks and two Quarian vehicles after the second line had been overran. It was than he heard soft explosions outside along with weapon discharge and Brutes roaring if anger. Many snapped their weapons to the front, all wide awake and ready for another 'Brute rush'.

But after ten minutes of roaring and explosions in the distance, it was obvious that no brutes were coming and it was obvious they were fighting…something…but they had no idea what. Many just summed it up to be the installation sentinel defence, even the LT colonel had no idea what was happening, as the Brute took out any external sensor once they had the front secured and the monitor floated off during the battle to attend to other duties while leaving her sentinels behind. So all in all they were blind to the situation at hand.

The explosions and roaring of brutes began to die down as the minutes passed and when the twenty minute mark passed, it was fully quiet once more and then did the front line slowly ease their guard, though many were still tense and held their weapons tightly.

It wasn't long before they heard soft footsteps in the distance of something running, and immediately they snapped their weapons back to the front. A minute later they saw a bloodied brute ultra with heavily damaged armour and a spiker in the distance and the moment he saw them, he gave a roar and pointed his weapon at them, but before either side could open fire, a shot, similar to that of an energy weapon discharge was heard in the distance and all of a sudden the brute stiffen and began to atomize, his body turning into flaky orange pieces before fully disappearing.

The few quarian beside them just stared in awe as they whispered among themselves, while the soldiers of the UNSC and NC glance uneasily at each other as they had seen these types of weapons in action on the documents of Requiem. Shortly after they heard the slow 'clink, clink, clink' sound of metal hitting metal as something in the distance walked towards them from the darkened hallways was heard. The quarian quieted down and they all pointed their weapons to the front, while the tanks shifted their large cannon towards the area.

"You think it's the guy that bloodied the brute up, sir?"

"Obviously…There is no one else in here beside us, the brutes and this new guy…So whoever it's…Well I really hope they are not our enemies…"

His subordinate nodded and the clinking stopped, the people their couldn't see anyone or anything, some began to relax, or more specifically the quarians before Scott spoke up quietly, "Careful there, they could have active camouflage…"

"What is Active camouflage?"

"Something that turns the user invisible…literally…"

With that said, the quarians tensed up again and a moment later someone, something taller than even a hunter standing at full height and almost as heavily armoured as one appeared out of thin air holding a large rifle of sorts.

All weapons immediately trained on the figure before it held it's hand up and shouted,

"Pacis! Ego operor non vilis vos ullus vulnero!"

Scott had no idea what he just said but just as he was about to respond he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Glancing backwards he saw one of his teammates behind him, "What is it corporal?"

"Well…He said 'Peace. I mean you no harm'…"

"And how would you know that of all things? I can't understand him, and I highly doubt anyone here at the moment can. So what makes you so special?"

"I took Latin classes in college…And I recognise that as Latin…"

A sangheili ultra clad in white armour quietly spoke up as he watched the figure, "What is this Latin language your subordinate speak off, captain?"

"Latin is in some way the precursor of modern day English that we use now…But I find it incredibly hard to believe that these aliens speak it…Corporal, can you communicate with him?"

"Yes, but it will be limited…Haven't used it in at least ten years…"

Scott nodded pleased, "Can you ask him what species he is and what does he want with us?"

The corporal nodded and took a moment to compose the sentence before shouting in an awkward tone, "Quis proprius operor vos belong ut quod quis operor vos volo nobis?"

"Can vestri populus agnosco mihi?"

"Haud, lingua vos narro iam est a mortuus lingua."

"…Exspecto articulus…"

The being stood there silently as everyone shifted uneasily and when it spoke again, he shocked everyone, "Can you understand me now?"

The corporal just backed up as the Scott began speaking; "Yes now we can. Why did you just change to English all of a sudden?"

The being shrugged, "Downloaded your language from the local archives and installed it in my suit."

"How did you get our language in the first place?"

"Hacked all of your ships databanks the moment you appeared above this ring…Unbelievably easy when ships are not protected…"

The group glance at each other uneasily, "How? The ships of the UNSC and NC forces are still very well protected with the latest firewalls and anti-hacking software…Even if it was still incomplete…"

Scott glanced at the quarians as he said the last part and the unknown in front of them just responded, "Took us a few seconds to break into your ship databanks and extract all the information in it…"

"WHAT! Even with our best, it will still take a minute to successfully break into our systems!"

The humanoid just shrugged, "Well it was still a pretty good effort to be able to hold off an assault by around a hundred AIs coordinating with each other."

Scott was relieved and worried at the same time, relieved that the cyber defences of their military was not as weak as he originally thought, after all not many system can sustain an assault by ten of AIs for that amount of time, let alone a hundred, while worried at what these being, whose weapons and technology seemed to have forerunner designs on them and at the same stands taller than a Mgalekgolo, might do with the information the acquired.  
Then out of the blue a quarian literally yelled at the top of his lungs "AIs?! ARE YOUR PEOPLE INSANE?! THEY WILL KILL US ALL!"

The being just turned his helmeted head to face the quarian, "Insane? More or less. But our AIs, unlike your geths, are perfectly safe…Besides if they had wanted to kill all of us, they would be rather successful as well, given the fact they have access to just about all of our systems and all military personnel along with the fact that most civilians have an AI companion of some sort."

"H-h-how did you know about the geths?!"

"Isn't it obvious quarian? We hacked into your ship the moment it crashed, along with the Batarians…"

"It took approximately four to the exponential of negative 5 seconds from our combined efforts."

A blue hologram of a humanoid in some sort of elegant armour with his face hidden behind his holographic helmet appeared on the being shoulder, which made the quarian took a step back, while one or two quivered in fear. Seeing this, the AI decided to address them specifically "Peace quarians. I do not mean any harm if you are not hostile."

"How do we know you're not lying? How do we know that if we let our guard down, you won't come in and kill us?!"

"Please…I have existed for approximately ten thousand years and five months, while the oldest construct in recorded history that is still 'alive' had existed for approximately one hundred and thirty thousand years ago, made before the initial flood outbreaks. So trust me when I say we have had plenty of time to kill all of you if we had wished…"

The quarians seemed to have calmed down slightly as the logic was true, but they still tightly gripped their weapons. Scott meanwhile was piecing together everything he had learnt, his eyes slowly widen as realization dawned upon him, but before he could speak, an sangheili major asked the question on his mind, "A-are you forerunner?"

The being chuckled lightly, "No I am not forerunner…Though some of the equipment I have on me now were either designed or co-designed by them."

"What are you then?"

"Human." Was the only word he said and everyone jaws/mandible dropped opened and went wide eye at the revelation.

"B-but how! Did the forerunner uplift us or something?" asked one of the ODSTs.

The now identified human just scoffed, "You obviously don't know much about our history, so let me fill you in. Before the flood wars, we humans were technologically on par with the forerunner, with our overall technology only considered slightly less advanced. Forerunner and humans also had tens of millions of warships and trillions of weapons pointed in each other direction, ready to annihilate the opposition in one swift move should war ever occur. It was only during the second flood wars did any type of cooperation occurred between our three races."

"Wait what? Three races? Second flood war? What are you talking about?"

"The third race, currently allies to both forerunners and humans are the San Shyuums."

"WHAT!" that was the major response of every member in the room that had heard about the great war and know the prophet species name, "How! They are nothing but lying cowards!"

"So we have seen in your databases…But around a hundred thousand years ago they were humanity allies. They served alongside us against the first flood wars, and despite their governing body surrendering in the forerunner-human war, many of them still stayed and fought with us."

Everyone was confused; they all had no idea what this human, if he was one, was talking about and said human seemed to have noticed this and sighed before saying one more thing, "Just know what I have told you are not lies. Everything will be explained in due time."

With that a golden enveloped him and he disappeared and everyone glanced at each other at the new revelations, "If what he say is true..." the sangheili just left the rest of the sentence unfinished, while a quarian spoke up, "What is the flood?"  
Scott just glanced in her direction, "Trust me when I say you don't want to know…"  
**  
Installation 08: UNSC command and control centre in unknown forerunner building.  
Lt Colonel Cooper. **  
Everyone was silent as they absorbed everything the supposedly four meter tall human said through the cameras placed on the third line. After he teleported away, the room broke into whispers, while others were still staring at the screen in shock.

"Colonel…What do we do now? Because I have no clue what the next move should be…"

The Cooper was silent for a second, "Private, casualty report now!"

"We got forty-eight of our people KIA with another one hundred and four wounded. Quarian casualties are twelve KIA and eighty two wounded."

Cooper turned to the quarian captain, "Do you have any medics or doctors in your group?"  
"Yes…But I'm not sure how much they can do…We quarians have really weak immune systems you see, further weakened by our…current predicament. So unless you have a place literally bacteria free, there will probably be no point in treating those wounded, as they will probably die of infection later."

Cooper nodded and replied, "Good thing we have a few sterile field generators in the makeshift hospital than…Should be enough to keep your people alive…"

The quarian just stared at Cooper, while behind her helmet her eyes held hope, "Really? You are actually willing to help my people?"

Cooper shifted around uncomfortably in his armour, "You make it sound like the entire galaxy hates you."

Now it was the quarian turn to feel uneasy, "Well…Most of the known galaxy does hate us to some degree…"

Cooper was shocked and suspicious, but before he could ask Lament floated in, "Reclaimer! It's most fortunate that your group have successfully survived."

The quarian glanced uneasily at the monitor as Cooper spoke to her, "Lament…You never told me that this ring was inhabited, and by humans no less!"

"Apologies reclaimer, but it was my makers wish to keep their existence secret until they deemed ready to reveal themselves. Not even the monitors of installation zero through to seven knew about their continual existence, though some did suspect the fact that they were still alive."

"I see…but what with all the secrecy? This sounds more like something ONI would do, not some advanced civilization with the firepower and technology to take over this galaxy in less than a week if they had wanted to."

"After the second flood war, the survivors decided that the galaxy would be better off with its inhabitant deciding their own fates, rather than have it decided for them through my makers' dominance over this galaxy. So in response, they chose you, the children of the ancient human empire, who had been devolved after the forerunner-human war and were still untouched by the horrors that they themselves have seen, as the inheritors of the mantle, and they left behind their technology on their remaining installations for you to uncover and claim, while they destroyed all evidence that humanity and the San Shyuum ever reached tier 1, hence you become arrogant like they once were. Afterwards they left the rest to their own devices and to decide their own fates."

"Than this place is their home?"

"No, this system was created two hundred years ago as merely an outpost with a purpose that if we ever needed to return, than we would have a foothold here. My makers have exiled themselves to the void of dark space after the war and had only set foot back in this galaxy only recently. If you have any more questions, the commodore would gladly answer them. Do you and your ally wish to meet him now?"

Both Cooper and Lia nodded and yellow rings enveloped them as they teleported to the installation command and control room.  
**  
Installation 08: UNSC/NC Fleet in orbit. Assault Carrier: ****_Divine Intervention_****.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr. **  
After the forerunner fleet destroyed the entire Jiralhanae fleet in three minutes in an incredible display of sudden firepower that literally shattered shields and vaporised the hulls of many ships at once, leaving them in space as cooling husks as the forerunner fleet floated gloriously through the broken ships. A moment later, the lead ship hailed every ship in the system, and immediately they responded.

"Greetings reclaimers and their allies, I am Rear Admiral Flames of Hope, commanding officer of the Second Rapid Reaction fleet and currently this ship, '_Coming Dawn'_. I have been instructed by my superiors to answer any questions you may have."

Before anyone could answer the forerunner admiral spoke up, "Before we begin, are these ships yours or your allies?"

Unknown ships that they have been detected the moment they appeared in the system, but were too busy to deal with at the time appeared on everyone screens, the human admiral responded, "Negative, they are unknown to us."

"Figured as much."

Eight of the smaller forerunner ships than transitioned into slip space and appeared to have surrounded the small fleet of ship with ease, blocking all possible escape routes. The Fleetmaster couldn't help but marvel at how precise their ships were able to jump as they escorted the unknowns over.  
**  
Unknown space: System Alliance/Citadel scout group. Observing unknowns.  
**"Sir! Eight of their ships have transitioned into their form of FTL!"  
A moment later a huge shadow loomed overhead the tiny flotilla, "Sir! They are hailing all ships within this area!"

Weighing his options, the turian nodded and a humanoid figure wearing elegantly made armour appeared on screen, "Greetings humans, turians, Salarians and Asaris. I have been instructed to bring you to our…'meeting' if you will. Know that you won't be harmed if you do not present yourselves as threats."

"How do you know who we are?! We have never even met before!"

"We know many things…and not just about you…" was the cryptic response which set everyone on edge.  
**  
**"Again, I have been instructed to bring you to our meeting, so when you are ready I suppose…"

Captain Vandus glanced at the various panel on the CIC, they were essentially surrounded and the FTL drives won't initiate a jump if there was a high chance of colliding into an object, and there was a high chance, also learning about this new race before they integrated into the citadel would be a good choice, maybe he might even be rewarded for this. Slowly Vandus nodded, "Very well, we will go."

The captain of the other ship nodded and the citadel flotilla was escorted into the meeting surrounded by eight ships easily thrice as large as their largest ship was.

Ten minutes later:  
Installation 08: UNSC/NC Fleet in orbit. Assault Carrier:

**_Divine Intervention_****.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.  
**The Fleetmaster watched as the forerunner ships escorted the unknown ships towards them still in perfect formation. During that time the admiral identified himself as a forerunner, much to everyone excitement and confusion.

"Before we begin, I should let you know there are humans of a different fraction on those ships."

The hologram of the forerunner was replaced by the ships underneath the forerunners ships, and zooming in; they all could see English littering the hulls of half the ships present.

"We do not know of how this came to be, as we only put the humans on Earth, and from information gathered, instead of the 'UEG' or 'UNSC', these humans goes by the name of the 'System Alliance'."

Everyone, including himself, was confused at other how humans ended up on a different planet without forerunner intervention, though it could have been a UNSC trick, they all highly doubt it as those ships were seemingly inferior to their ships five hundred years ago and far too 'fancy' for UNSC tastes. The human admiral than spoke up, "Well, I have three different theories. Firstly, this is some ONI operation…which I highly doubt due to ONI…operating procedures…Secondly, they are an old insurrectionist group that stole some ships and decided it would be easier to run away and start anew instead of fight, which if true…Well they would be faced with…hostilities…for the deeds of their ancestors. Or the third, they are decedents from those on board some old forgotten UNSC ships, either of civilian or military make that somehow manage to get lost in slip space that we have long forgotten about and ended up wherever they ended up, which if it's true, **could**possibly be welcomed back into the UEG with opened arms."

The Fleetmaster nodded in agreement, "True, but what of these new aliens? We know nothing about them or their society."

"Right now we talk, and listen to what they say and plan our moves accordingly with their own…"

The forerunner nodded, "The ships have arrived, connecting the others to channel."

A moment later, the shipmaster saw the holograms of the human commander and 3 other types of aliens, with one of them resembling a human female to a high degree, another had avian features on him and the last one look like a frail lizard of some kind.

The forerunner than spoke up snapping him from his stupor, "Now that we are all here, we shall begin shortly, once the ground teams reports in."

A minute later ten more hologram appeared in front of the Fleetmaster, and he recognize a few of the commanders that was sent to the installation along with the Fieldmaster that was in charge of everyone else sent to take the control room standing beside what seemed to be more forerunners and an alien that he didn't recognize.

Immediately he heard a low growl over the COM of the alien that resembled a predatory bird, "What are you Quarians doing here?! You broke the citadel law and activated the Mass Relay didn't you? Be warned there will be repercussions from your people for your act!"

Before anyone could respond the quarian shouted back, "So what?! I was looking after MY people, there were pirates after us and we had no choice! Besides, we are not a part of your citadel anymore. So in case you forgot, these were the exact words of your council to our people three hundred years ago, 'For the breaking of citadel laws of the citadel and the carelessness of your race's creation of the Geths, we the council have decided to remove the quarian embassy from the citadel as well as cut all ties with your race after today for unleashing a menace across this galaxy.' So in all technically we are not bound by citadel laws anymore and are free to do as we wish!"

"Do you wish for war against the Turian Hierarchy and the combined races of the citadel, quarian? If you don't than I suggest you keep quiet…"

Everyone heard the now identified alien known as a quarian growled softly at the 'turian' threat of war but remained quiet than the forerunner admiral spoke to what Voro assumed was the forerunner in charge of the installation, "Commodore, where are the other two? Didn't you inform them that they were to be a part of this?"

"I did sir, but they are a bit preoccupied in dealing with the Jiralhanae forces that escaped the initial assaults."

Before the admiral could respond, two holograms of what he assumed were forerunners in full body armour, slightly bloodied with brute blood appeared and one of them spoke in a feminine voice, "Sorry we are late. Jiralhanae forces that escaped numbered more than we initially thought."

The Admiral just nodded, "Since the two supreme commanders are now with us, we can now begin, but first, let me first welcome you to Installation 08 and you are free to ask any questions you may have."

Everyone was initially quiet at first until the Fleetmaster of the fleet of furious redemption spoke what was on the mind of everyone who knew about the forerunners, "I do not wish to sound offensive, holy one, but how did you survive the war with the parasite. All the evidence we have points to the fact that your kind went extinct afterwards."

"We might have as well if it weren't for the intervention of the humans and the San Shyuums."

Everyone was confused at that and the Fleetmaster spoke up again, "We don't understand, could you further elaborate?"

The forerunner sighed, "Humanity and the San Shyuums were once and still are allies and they were the only races to rival us in technology. The short story is, when the flood came and attacked us, what was left of their empire came and assisted us in the war. The long one and we could be here for hours…Winter, can you upload a brief history of how we came to be into their ships?"

A moment after he said that an officer on the divine intervention spoke up, "Fleetmaster, we have just received documents of some sorts from the forerunner flagship…It seems to tell of their history."

The Fleetmaster nodded, "Very well, I'll read it once this meeting is over."

"Yes Fleetmaster!"

"I trust you have all received the information I sent?"

Everyone nodded, "Excellent, that should explain some of our history."

The human admiral than asked a question, "Why did you decide to disappear after the war all of a sudden? And where did you disappear to?"

"It's simple really, after the war all three of our empires were reduced to ruins with all of our populations drastically reduced, homes burnt to ground and everyone having lost someone or something they cared about, we simply decided it would be best to exile ourselves to dark space and allow this galaxy to rebuild on its own terms."

"And why were we chosen as 'reclaimers', if this is true, why are there still humans still in this galaxy than?"

"That would be clearly explained in the files, but basically, humanity and san Shyuum were the first to encounter the flood, while they were at war with it, they lost many worlds to the parasite, enough to make them desperate enough to attack our worlds for resources and replace the ones they lost as well as cleanse the ones that the parasite were present on. So it was obvious we retaliated, so when the human-forerunner war began, the humans and San Shyuums were forced to fight a war on two fronts. But fortunately during that time the humans had managed to push the flood back and win that one, but they were forced to continue to fight against us in their already crippled state and that proved too much and after another thousand years of conflict, they lost. Many of those that were forced to stay behind to make it less suspicious for those who had successfully escaped, were executed, than the librarian intervened and those who survived were devolved instead. The files should explain it in more details."

Voro saw the admiral close his eyes and clenched his fist, than when he opened it again he asked another question, "Why didn't we ask for help from the forerunner instead?"

"There was little trust and much tension between both empires in those time and many of both races would have gladly went on a genocide campaign against the other if given the right reasons to."

"Than what changed? Why help you all of a sudden if we hated each other?"

"It was simply for survival, the humans and San Shyuums who had been watching the war from the shadows for quite some time saw us losing to the parasite. So in the end, the humans and San Shyuums concluded that if the flood had won, it would only be a matter of time before they were found and were assimilated. Despite our military might, the flood had already severely outnumbered us by the hundreds if not into the thousands to one and have captured many of our ships as well as obtained the knowledge to construct new ones. Only when they came and provided us with their research and strategies developed in fighting the flood in their time and combining it with our own, did we begin to push them back, despite being only temporary."

"And you expect us to believe all this? You expect us to believe that humans, along with you and another species fought a war that large and the citadel found no evidence of it? Also the size of the military you implied that this 'flood' has is impossibly large! Even if you have bought these unknown aliens and human civilization with your story, how do I know what you are telling us are not lies you have fabricated to make yourselves seem more powerful than what you really are?" said the Turian captain.

The sangheilis that were present growled softly as their mandibles parted in a sneer while the forerunners and their allies turned their attention to the turian watching him ominously with their face concealed behind their helmets and the humans of the UNSC watch with an unnatural calmness, similar to the calm before the storm.

Voro than growled out with forced calm tone to the Turian, "Do not speak of what you do not know of turian or I will board your ship and personally cut your tongue out before I let you insult us or the ancient ones again…Unless you are also blind as well as stupid, than I can assume that you didn't see how they single handily annihilated the loyalist fleet, which numbered in the thousands, with only a fleet of four hundred and fifty without a single ship lost."

His bridge crew roared their approval and the human admiral had a small smirk on his face while the turian looked angered by the threat and not so subtle insult, but before he could respond, a feminine voice from the human like alien with 'tentacles' sprouting from the back of her head spoke, "I apologize for Captain Vandus words, but what he said did hold some truth, how do we know what you speak off is true without any sort of proof. I do not wish to sound offensive, but documents and files can easily be fabricated as they can be true, please understand that this is sort of hard for us to believe…"

An unfamiliar and slightly rough male voice than sounded through the COMs, "Is this enough proof for the time being, Asari?"

Everyone turned to the voice to see one of the armoured figures had taken off his helmet to show a face that most definitely is human. His cold and calculative eyes, only seen in war veterans that have seen and done too much, met everyone else's as he scanned the people in front of him.

The Asari along with the Salarians slowly nodded, obviously having a lot on their minds and the turian asked another question, "And who might you be?"

The human in front of him just stared at the turian with a cold unflinching gaze; this contest lasted for Fifteen seconds straight before the unknown female who stood next to him nudged him slightly snapping him out of his stupor. He turned to her and some of the more senior officers noticed his cold eyes seemed to soften a bit as he gave her his attention, she than said something in the forerunner language where no one else understood. He responded in the same language and she answered back and he sighed in before turning back to everyone else, "High supreme commander and the commanding officer of the Dark Templar special operation division." He said in a neutral tone.

"Name?"

He kept silent until the female nudged him again, "Sigma…"

The turian smirks triumphantly, "Your companion is wise, Sigma…Not many can survive the might of the turian hierarchy when we are enraged..."

He didn't notice the Asari beside him face palm or the Salarian just sighing and shaking his head while everyone from the NC just watched the turian either in anger or bewilderment of what he had just dared said.  
**  
Installation 08: Command and control room.  
Sigma POV.**  
Sigma closed his eyes while his helmet reformed around his head; after he was sure that it was fully secured on his head he opened his eyes and instead of the usual brown eyes, it glowed a chaos green colour with energy wisps dissipating into the air (Think Dark Templar eyes in SC2).

He glared at the Turian smug look before noticed his wife's worried glances towards his direction and he closed his eyes again and calmed himself before opening it again revealing it had turned back to normal and responded to the Turian in a neutral tone, "Is that a threat, Turian?"

The way he said it made the turian hesitate just long enough for admiral Flames of Hope to intervene in a controlled diplomatic tone, "Please try not to antagonise one of our most decorated soldiers and respected individuals, captain. It wouldn't bode well for future relations, especially when making subtle hints about declarations of war…"  
The turian than reluctantly submitted as he noticed the pleading eyes of his allies along with the commander of the system alliance cruiser.

Sigma than spoke over private COM to his wife, "I just hope the rest of his race isn't as arrogant as him…"

"Same here…"  
**  
Installation 08: General POV.  
**As the Q&A continued, topics that were asked by the NC/UNSC were mainly about history, the purpose of this Halo, though it's true purpose was kept secret because they didn't know how the citadel would react finding out that halo was actually a super weapon and not the half-truth of a research facility, along with the main fact that there were originally meant to be twelve and not seven, as the neo-covenant believed or one with the citadel and that this halo was the original size the halos were supposed to be, but were downsized due to resources being spread too thin during the war.  
The citadel forces along with the system alliance and the single quarian mainly just let the NC/UNSC ask the questions as they recorded the responses into their ship databanks and environmental suit respectively, to take back to their government, while rarely asking questions of their own.

Another hour passed when the NC forces ran out of question to ask for the time being, due to some of the sensitive nature of said question and was better asked in private, while other took too much time to go into detail and were given a very basic outline and a very rare few were classified by the Forerunner-Human-San Shyuum Alliance governments. Admiral Flames of Hope waited for a minute, "Is that everything you wish to know for the time being?"

The respective NC leaders present nodded while captain Vandus spoke, "There is the issue of why there are three different human fractions instead of just one…"

Flames of Hope nodded his head, "the Humanity that are our current allies were the first civilization of humanity we know of to rise, while the others are better off answered by the 'reclaimers'."

This time the quarian spoke up for the second time during the whole thing, "I have heard the terms mentioned a few times, what is the term supposed to actually mean?"

"This term is given to the ancestors of any humans who had stayed behind and had been devolved by us when they lost the human-forerunner war. They are the 'inheritors' of everything our three races have ever learnt and created. Though the San Shyuum had been given limited access to our technologies as well due to their current status with us, but we would not have given them that privilege if we knew what would have happened. Both United Nation Space Command and System Alliance holds reclaimer status, but the System Alliance only meets the technological requirement to allow for limited access, while the UNSC and their allies themselves would hold equal standing with us in terms of what can be made available to them if they accessed one of the installations we left behind."

The citadel forces mouths hung a gape, even the human on the system alliance captain eyes, which were usually calm widened in shock and the Vandus spoke out in anger, "Why have you only made your technology accessible only to the humans?! Why not the Turians or the Asaris? Why do they get everything while we get nothing?!"

Flames of Hope calmly replied to the turian, "I did say the reclaimers and their ALLIES will stand to benefit from this. On your own you might only be able to learn about the name of our race and a few other inconsequential things, but since the System Alliance also has reclaimer status, they can access our installation as well…If they find one…And your other question, why we chose humanity? When we fought the flood together, instead of the stereotypically cruel, aggressive and violent race that started the forerunner-human war by mercilessly pillaging fifty of our planets seemingly without reason, they were instead a misunderstood race that despite our unpleasant history, came to our aid and stood by our side in our most trying times where others would have abandoned us, they stood defiant against an enemy that sought to consume us all, a race where trillions willingly sacrificed themselves to help right a mistake that they didn't make, a race that offered my people a home when ours were reduced to ashes…And one of the two races that my people considers equal to themselves."

The sangheili and other races of the Neo-covenant nodded in knowing after encountering some of these traits during the human-covenant war, while the humans of both UNSC and SA stood tall with pride, but captain Vandus was far from done, "But why does this UNSC get full access while the System Alliance only get only limited access? How are they more advanced than us when they don't even use element zero, the substance that is required for everything we use? Come to think of it, how do we even know that you are more advanced than us if you also don't use element zero?"

The sangheilis and Mgalekgolos growled loudly, while the humans of the UNSC glared menacingly, daring the turian to say the wrong thing so they can prove him wrong, while Flames of Hope just shrugged, "If you don't want what we have, than don't take it. We are not forcing any of your people to take what we have left behind."

The turian growled loudly in response, but before he could retort, the Salarian quickly interrupted him, "Right, but we have yet to answer the question about why the UNSC exists…"

"Like I said, the reclaimers would most likely be able to answer that question better than most of us can…"

The UNSC admiral took that it was his queue to speak, "We have initially came up with three theories, but the first one is most likely false, due to what we have observed. So that leaves us with two, the first one, the System Alliance were decedents of insurrectionist who fled the UNSC into unknown space to start anew."

This gained shocked and angry looks from the system alliance officers while the Salarian spoke up, "And the second one?"

"Similar to the first, but instead of fleeing insurrectionist, are long lost colonists, military personnel or maybe a mixture of both that got lost in space and couldn't return for one reason or another."

This seemed to pacify the initially angry and shocked System Alliance officers before one of them spoke up, "So our home world isn't actually Earth?"

Flames of Hope spoke up, "Humanity did begin from Earth, or Erde-Tyrene as it was known at the time, but…there might be some confusion between the System Alliance's Earth and the UNSC Earth…"

Everyone was confused by what he had said and the Salarian responded, since having started the discussion, "What do you mean by 'confusion between the two Earths?'"

Flames of Hope sighed, "Earth as the UNSC knew now was in danger of being attacked by flood. The humans at the time knew, so they created a second Sol system, to replace the original if it was ever destroyed, a misallocation of a significant amount of resources at the time, but the humans were always more sentimental..."

This gained shocked looks from the System Alliance and the citadel, even the quarian was shocked, and Flames of Hope continued, "But the Sol system was never attacked by the flood and hence wasn't destroyed. Therefore they never had to replace it. So instead it was used to replace one of the systems that was actually destroyed during the war, which from the Navigation data from your databanks, matches to the system that we replaced."

"Are you implying you actually BUILT a second Earth?!" a System Alliance officer almost shouted in shock.

"I wasn't implying. I was stating that we, or more specifically, the humans at the time, did build an entire Sol system."

"Impossible! The resources required would be enormous!"

"And yet, to us it's all but child play amongst other things. This system you are in now, many of the planets, the 'garden worlds' and ring didn't exist two hundred years ago, this place was once consider an inhospitable system; the planets and installation here was built by us."

Everyone was silent as he said this and remained silent afterwards, "If that is all the questions you have than you are free to leave and I bid you good day."

Everyone nodded and disconnected from the channel as their holograms disappeared one by one off the forerunner flagship bridge and the citadel/System Alliance Flotilla quickly went into FTL back to the relay to report what they had just learnt.  
**  
Installation 08: Command and control room.  
Lieutenant colonel Cooper POV.  
**After the holograms disappeared Cooper made his way to the Elite in charge of everyone on the ground, "Fieldmaster, if I may have a word with you for a moment?"  
The elite looked down at the human and nodded, "What is on your mind, colonel?"

"You know the new aliens, that called themselves 'quarians', I told you about before the brutes launch their assault?"

The Fieldmaster nodded as he glanced at the single quarian that stood off to the side nervously glancing around the place, "What about them?"

"I'm requesting that the group of quarians on this ring be placed under the protection of the neo-covenant for the time being."

The Fieldmaster regarded the human in front of him with shock written all over his face before he recomposed himself and calmly asked "Why is that?"

"It's only right to help the people who have helped us. The quarians helped us fend of thousands of brutes during the assault on sector 204, out of the one hundred and fifty or so quarians, twelve were confirmed KIA and around eighty two were wounded, with another twenty one of those in critical. Despite that they probably made that decision in the face of self-preservation instead of the intention of helping us, none the less they still cooperated which in turn increased our chances of survival."

"Do you have proof of this?"

Lament floating around at the time overheard the conversation and joined in, "That we do. I can show you footages of the battle recorded from my sentinels if you would like."

The Fleetmaster shook his head, "That will not be necessary construct, for I believe you. On the other hand colonel, you still need to work on making a more persuasive argument, but deeds like these will not go ignored. Can you connect us to the commanding officers of our fleets above this ring?"

Laments 'nodded', "Off course, please follow."

A moment later they found themselves standing behind an armoured figure almost twice their respective heights, "Commodore, the reclaimer and the sangheili wishes to discuss certain things with their superiors, requesting permission to use communication suites."

The commodore turned to face them, analysing them behind his helmet than spoke up a few seconds later, "It's good to see humanity has advanced to the level of technology they have now and have steadfast allies that will stand by their side…Despite the history..."  
The sangheili shifted uneasily at the last part but responded, "It was the prophets that lied to us, holy one. If we knew the truth we would not have waged the war against the humans."

The commodore sighed, "I wasn't accusing you or your race of anything. I take it you have heard about the human-forerunner war from the meeting?"

The sangheili nodded, "Despite being allies for almost over one hundred thousand years, and having a very powerful bond developed over the years and during the flood war, the forerunner-human war had claimed the lives of tens of trillions of humans and San Shyuums who stayed behind with us instead of surrendering, both military and civilians, along with trillions of forerunner military as well, during the course of that war. But as you also know, it was my race that started that war with the assault on forerunner controlled planets in the first place, killing their people, and they retaliated, which was well within their right to do so. So we have no right to judge you on that matter if our past and mindset was similar…"  
The colonel and the Fieldmaster nodded as they took in the word and the now identified human spoke again, "And two more things. Firstly what are your names."

"Fieldmaster Xanus Charum, holy one."

"Lieutenant Colonel Michael Cooper, sir."

The commodore nodded as he memorized the names, "And lastly; we are not gods. None of us are, not the San Shyuums, nor the forerunners and definitely not humanity and all of us acknowledges this and if you were to use the terms you had used to address me or your Fleetmaster used to address the admiral when talking to us in our society, we would basically look at you weirdly and ask 'why are you using those terminology'."

The two nodded, "Very well, you have permission to use the COMs to contact your superiors."

The two followed lament to a console against a war and a moment later the respective leaders of the three fleets popped up on a small holographic console attached to the console.

Voro spoke as it was his subordinates that contacted him, "Fieldmaster, colonel. It's good to see you are unharmed, is there a problem on the installation?"

"No Fleetmaster, Colonel Cooper has formally requested that we protect the quarians from any repercussions they might receive from the 'citadel' from breaking their 'law' and opening a 'mass-relay', whatever they are…For the assistance they provided us with during the brute assault."

The human admiral spoke to him, "Do you have proof of this, Fieldmaster?"  
Lament than responded in the place of Xanus, "Uploading combat footages into your ships databanks now."

The two Fleetmasters and single admiral watched the footages that were sent and by the end of it they muted the COM and began discussing it among themselves. A few minutes later it seemed that they have reached the conclusion as they turned their attention back to the two on the installation and Voro spoke to them, "Can you please bring the quarian here?"

As Cooper was about to go, he found Lament flying off towards the quarian and a moment later Lament returned with the Quarian hesitantly in tow. She glanced nervously at the sangheili in gold armour before turning her attention to Cooper "I was told by the…AI… that you wanted to see me."

"That we did. Are you the leader of the quarian on this ring?"  
Glancing at the three small holographic figures of a human and two sangheili she nodded, "I am. What do you need?"

"By the actions of you and your subordinates in assisting our troops in the defence against the Jiralhanaes, we have decided to grant you and your people on the ring temporary protection against this so called 'citadel', if they return and attempt to try anything against you and your people right now. Also we would gladly assist with any problems you might have, being it within our power to assist. Provided this is only temporary as we do not have the power and authority to establish something more permanent, but it will be bought forward to the council of the Neo-covenant and our respective governments for further inquiries into the matter of future relation with you and your people."  
**  
Installation 08: Command and control room.  
Lia'Nara Vas Rayya.  
**She was elated when she heard the human said that, she and her men were safe from the citadel for now. Despite being initially suspicious and weary of the humans and their alien allies for their assistance, that slowly changed into gratitude as they provided them with their weapons to fight the enemy and treated them as a sort of 'equal' during combat, as in pulling back and treating wounded quarians as best they could and not using them as cannon fodders and leaving them for dead as well as provided them with stronger weapons for the fight, despite that working both ways. As well as the personal experience with the two human she had actually talked to, which was Scott and Cooper, along with the short interaction with the aliens, which wasn't like she initially predicted, which was either cut the conversation short or outright ignore her and her people.

Despite this covenant being eerily similar to the citadel with their council, she was going to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being but couldn't help but ask about their council, "Out of curiosity, what are the neo-covenant and your council like?"

The human leader shrugged and began telling her the basics, "The covenant is a multi-species alliance as you probably have already known and currently consists of five species and the council is made up of four species, each single species can have three representatives at any one time."

"And what about the fifth?"

"Well…they are not really interested in politics or anything of the sorts and the last few times they actually turned up to a meeting of sorts…Well they just did nothing, so we decided to revoke their position until they wish to be part of our politics, which in turn we will gladly return it to them. Why do you ask?"

"I see…" She said this with an intrigued tone and actually had hopes that her people might be able to form some sort of mutual agreement with this covenant of theirs. "Our people have negative experiences with the citadel government and their governments and lets leave it at that…"

The three leaders nodded, "If that is all you wished to ask, we will be going now."

"One more thing…"

One of the sangheili nodded, "Go on…"

"Our ship is critically damaged when it crashed landed on this ring and we have no way to get home, let alone off this ring…I was wondering if you can assist with that."

"That we can quarian, if you give us the schematics for your ship we might be able to repair it, or if failing that, offer you and your people transportation on ours to your home, provided you give us the coordinates."

The quarian was a little uneasy about giving away the coordinate of the migrant fleet to an unknown civilization that for the moment seemed friendly and had the firepower easily rival if not outmatch the strongest of the citadel ships, but none the less she nodded at the offer,  
"Thank you that will be all for the moment."

With that the three holograms winked out leaving her to her thoughts.  
"So when would you like to leave?"

She turned to the colonel, "Whenever your fleet is ready I suppose…"

"You know we might be staying for another few days at least right…"

She shrugged, "As long as my people are safe and well looked after, I couldn't care less where we are at for the time being…"

* * *

_We could have easily built bigger ships with our current technology, with bigger being around hundred km sized or so ships, but despite what some may say about 'bigger being better', it is simply unneeded and unpractical at this time, when a smaller ship, with less guns on it, could be more easily mass produced and just as effective. After all, the effectiveness to wage war in space relies more upon who has the stronger guns, not more…  
_**-Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood**

* * *

**ACCESSING UNSC NAVY DATA PAD…**  
**…**

**USER RECOGNIZED: REAR ADMIRAL KEYES…**  
**ALPHA LEVEL ACCESS GRANTED…**  
**INITILIZING DATA…**

**…**  
**INITILIZING COMPLETED…**  
**OPENING…**  
**  
UNSC Navy:**

Numbering in the tens of thousands with technology exponentially superior to the technology used over four centuries ago, the UNSC Naval forces are an equal match against the might of the Neo-covenant themselves and would have decent chances of prevailing in a fleet battle with a 1:1 ratio.

Despite being a part of the Neo-covenant, the UNSC is still recognized as an 'independent' and competent military fraction apart of the Neo-covenant with its own command chain, in turn the UNSC does not only use ships design and built by their own hands, but also from the various races of the covenant, but also build and design their own, which in turn makes it significantly complicated when listing complement usually assign on ships, as it can be made up from purely Neo-covenant, UNSC or a mix of both. So for the sake of saving time, ships made by their respective owners will have the complements usually assign by their own race. Ships built by the UNSC are generally known for their significantly more powerful defensive and mobility systems in contrasts the neo-covenant's superior offensive systems.

Finally an advantage of UNSC ships is that they are usually cheaper to construct in contrast their Neo-covenant counter-parts of the same class, due to being smaller and less decorative.

It should also be noted that like the Neo-covenant ships, UNSC ships are capable of firing all their weapons simultaneously, including DEWs at maximum charge, and transition into slip space almost immediately afterwards, though the draw back for doing this kind of move will vary from different class of ships.

The effect of ships suffer from this draw back will be designated with a '*' with a number ranging from 0 to 3 signifying the severity of the issue on the ship after the 'all weapons max charge' move. The following information will explain in detail the significance of damage on each class of ship after this move:  
**  
Level 0**: The ship suffers from no drawbacks what so over and can be repeated almost indefinitely without consequence.  
**  
Level 1: **The ship can still move after it exit slip space, though weapons, shields and slip spaces drive will be offline for a few minutes until the system resets. If the ships doesn't enter slip-space, they will only have severely weakened shields (25-50 percent) and limited weapons use that doesn't require a significant amount of energy (bolt missiles, pulse lasers, limited amount of plasma torpedoes, needler shard turrets, etc).  
**  
Level 2: **The ship is dead in space after exiting slip space will have backup generators automatically power up to keep life support on along with COM lines, as the main generators on the ship resets, this usually take between three to five minutes. If slip space is not entered, ship main generator will still be online, though on the verge of overload, with shields and any 'high powered' weapons such as energy projectors and MACs being temporary offline or taking extremely long time to charge. Ship will still be able to move and use weapons that requires minimal amount of power such as missiles or Needler shard turrets.  
**  
Level 3: **After exiting slip-space, the ship will basically be out of commission for at least six minutes if not more, with back-up generators keeping life support COM lines online and engines on minimal power. If ship doesn't enter slip space, which is not recommended, it will have all weapons and shields offline with engine operating at a mere 15%. Either way, a ship with a level 3 rating will usually need a generator refit afterwards.

Research is being done by both UNSC and Neo-covenant to remove this weakness and various proposals have been made with varying degrees of it should also be noted that ALL UNSC and NC ships have a detachment of ten to a hundred huragoks, depending on size of the ships, to help maintain it at optimal level. This can also provide some inconsistency as Huragoks tend to upgrade various parts without said owner initially knowing when 'bored' and hence some might perform better than others.

**-Raptor 'Rapid strike' Corvettes. 3*  
**Similarly to the corvettes used during the human-covenant war centuries ago, this class of ships does not exceed the size of three hundred meters and does not support a main MAC cannon. To make up for this, corvettes support many Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) and missiles along with more powerful engines and larger power supplies to supplement it is role as a rapid strike warship, where it jumps behind enemy lines with slip space and attempts to cripple them and jump back out before the enemy can properly respond. These types of ships are uncommonly used by the UNSC due to their underperformance in direct naval engagements, due to the majority of the power going to weapons instead of shields and weak armour. These ships can be remote controlled from a 'mother ship' via AI link, with an AI capable of controlling four of these ships at any one time.  
**Weapons:  
**-M204 Bolt light fission Missiles (X 40, 30 missiles per pod)  
-M205 Incinerator Plasma core missiles( X 30, 30 missile per pod)  
-Mk V plasma torpedoes/lances turrets (X 15, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI pulse lasers (X 50)  
-Mk III( ) frontal Energy Projector (X 1)  
-Mk VIII Shiva nuclear warhead (X 2, 734 Megatons)  
**-**Mk VI Needler Shard Anti-ship Turrets(X 10, World-wanderer 2.0)**  
Complement:  
**-None if AI.  
-Platoon of ODSTs (30-45)  
-Company of marines (90-110)  
-Pelican (X 8)  
-Fox escape pods (X 75)**  
Hull rating:  
**Fifty Centimetres of titanium B2, 30 centimetres of Tungsten A6 outer plating (over/around vital areas)  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. (Relatively weak compared to even other class of corvettes, meant for deflecting 'lucky shots')  
**FTL:**  
Yes. The latest model of Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine: The 'Moonlit Starlight class'. It is the latest model by a Human-Sangheili Company, 'World-wanderer 2.0', which specialized in creating military hardware and weapons for the neo-covenant Navy. Also work alongside the military itself in some projects. Currently being retrofitted into the rest of the Neo-covenant/UNSC Navy.  
**Length:** 300m.  
**Width:** 102m.  
**Depth:**75m.

**-Nightingale Stealth Corvette (prowler). 0***  
Despite possessing less weapons than the Raptor corvettes and less defensive measures then the Blitz class Heavy corvettes, these ships are probably the most powerful and most of the three due to the fact that it possess a good balance of the two, not too weak and not too slow. This perfectly helps it fit the role of a stealth corvette as it can take and dish out punishment of a considerable amount if compromised and not too large that it can be accidently detected in prolong assignments. These ships are primarily employed by ONI, and every fleet has at least one stealth corvette to act as it is eyes and ears. In conclusion, these ships are one of the most powerful ships in the UNSC fleets, capable of wiping out small fleets of ships on their own due to their stealth nature and nuclear arsenal and one of the most valued assets in the UNSC fleets, even during the covenant war.  
**-Weapons:  
**-Mk VI Pulse lasers (X 30)  
-Mk V 'Variant B' Plasma torpedoes/lances (X 8, Interchangeable)  
-M205 Bolt light fission missiles( X 15)  
-Mk VIII(S) Shive Nuclear warhead (X 4)  
-Guardian Space Mines (X 75)  
-Impulse Nuclear Space Mines (X 40, 100 Megatons)  
-Spark EMP mines (X 50)  
-Mk II Nova (optional, X 1-4)  
**Complement:  
**-Platoon of ODST (X 30-45)  
-Squad of Spartan IV (X 5)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 6)  
-Pelican drop ships (S) (X 3)  
-M-26 Warthog LAAG (X 4)  
-Drop bay with HEVs (X 8)  
-Fox Escape pods (X 40)**  
Hull rating:**  
A meter of Titanium B2(S), fifty centimetres of A7(S) Tungsten outer-plating.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes  
**Shielding:  
**Advance stealth Shielding  
**FTL:  
**Yes. Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine: Matrix Class. (Being refitted with Moonlit class.)  
**Length: **250m  
**Width: **95m.  
**Depth: **52 m.

-Blitz Class Heavy corvette. 1*

The main purpose of this star ship isn't to deal damage to other star ships or even engage in naval warfare, despite being armed to do so, these corvettes are mainly used as 'mini-carriers', orbital support and to insert spec ops team and are armed limited stealth capabilities. This type of ships can be found in the hangers of larger ships such as the infinity class super cruisers or the siege carriers. They basically bare the same role as the covenant's old SDV class Heavy corvettes used in the assault of Reach.  
**Weapons:**  
-M205 Bolt light fission missiles (X 20)  
-Mk V Plasma torpedoes/lances (X 10, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Pulse lasers (X 10)  
-Spark EMP mines (X 20)  
-Mk II Light orbital bombardment MACs (X 2, can be 'quad shotted' each.)  
-Mk X light MAC cannon for Anti-ship (X 1)  
**Complement**:  
-Two platoons of ODSTs (X 50-70)  
-Company of Marines (X 100-120)  
-Four squad of Spartans IV (X 16-20)  
-Pelicans (X 10)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 15, Gauss X 8, Plasma turret X 10, Rocket X 5, Fuel Rod X 10, concussion plasma shells X 8)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 10)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT (X 5)  
-M30 MAAT (Main Anti-Air Tanks) Leopards (X 7)  
-Wasps (X 20)  
-Ravens (X 10)  
-Drop bay( X 40 HEVs)  
-Fox escape pods (X 60)  
**Hull Rating:  
**Two meters of Titanium B2, ten centimetres of Tungsten A6 outer plating over titanium.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes, Medium level shields.  
**FTL Capable:  
**Yes, being refitted with moonlit starlight class.**  
Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **700m**  
Width: **452m**  
Depth: **290m  
**  
****  
-Walsh Class Light Frigate 1*  
**The successor of the Charon-Class and Stalwart-Class Light Frigates, this ships have essentially the same role as the Blitz class Heavy corvettes as well as having the role of planetary defence and light escorts for civilian ships, but instead are larger, allowing more troops on board, heavier armoured and more powerful defensive and offensive systems, allowing this ship to take more punishment than the corvette and actually is capable of engaging in Naval warfare more successfully than the corvettes, hence used in more hostile situations, such as deploying teams planet-side or providing orbital support to the ground when orbital control is still being contested.

Though slower than the Nightingales and Raptors in real space, these ships exceeds the speed of the Blitz corvettes and are more heavily armed and armoured than all three corvettes combined.  
**Weapons:  
**-Mk X 'Light' MACs (X 2)  
-Mk II 140mm Auto cannons (X 4)  
-Mk I 250mm Auto cannons (X 2)  
-Mk X 'Medium' MAC (X 1)  
-M205 Bolt light fission Missiles (X 100)  
-M206 Incineration Plasma core missiles (X 100)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 20)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 40)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 25, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 50)  
-Mk III (V. Light) Energy projector (X 1)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 2)  
-Mk III HAVOC Nuclear warheads (X 3)  
**Complement:  
-**Two Company of Marines (X 200-240)  
-One company ODST (X 90-110)  
-Platoon of Spartan IV (X 25-30)  
-Pelican (X 20)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT(X 8)  
-SP102 Mambas (X 6)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 8)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 20, Gauss X 10, Plasma turret X 12, Rocket X 5, Fuel Rod X 5, concussion plasma shells X 6)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 10)  
-Wasps (X 30)  
-Ravens (X 20)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 5)  
-Drop Bay (X 100)  
-Fox Escape Pods (X 140)  
**Hull rating:  
**Three meters of Titanium B2, One meter of Tungsten A6 over vital areas.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Standard Medium Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes, Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight Class.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **1035m  
**Width: **452m**  
Depth: **132m

-**Rapture Class Heavy Frigates. 2***  
Unlike their light frigate counterparts, heavy frigates are used for direct navel engagement instead of planet side/orbital support. These ships usually are the one escorting larger ships into battle as well as protecting ship providing orbital support. These frigates have a smaller complement, in contrast to a Walsh Frigate, on board despite their larger size, but most of that mass comes from the weapons and armour placed on the ship. But despite this, these ships can still provide support to ground troops if needed, just not as much. These ships can also be carried in the hanger of larger ships, just in less numbers of their lighter cousins.  
**Weapons:  
**-Mk X 'Medium' MACs (X 3)  
-Mk II 140mm Auto cannons (X 2)  
-M205 Bolt fission Missiles (X 150)  
-M206 Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 150)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 40)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 70)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 30, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 50)  
-Mk III (V. Med) Energy projector (X 1)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 4)  
-Mk III HAVOC Nuclear warheads (X 1)  
**Complement**:  
-Company of Marines (X 110)  
-Platoon of ODST (X 45)  
-Squad of Spartan IV (X 8, Optional)  
-Pelicans (X 10)  
-M-26 Warthogs Warthogs (LAAG X 10, Gauss X 3, Plasma turret X 10, Concussion plasma shells X 5)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 20)  
-Wasps (X 6)  
-Mk XII long swords (X 8)  
-Drop bay (X 25 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 155)  
**Hull rating:  
**Four meters of Titanium B2, One and a half meter of Tungsten A6 over vital areas.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Standard Medium Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes, Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight Class.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **1235m  
**Width: **647m**  
Depth: **164m

-**Iroquois Class Destroyers 0-1; depending on variation used***  
Destroyers, as their names implies are solely meant for one thing and one thing only…Destroying enemy ships with as little effort as possible. Named after the ship that Captain Jacob Keyes used to destroy four covenant ship on his own over Sigma Octanus IV, this ship is fast, relatively cheap, strong and armed with heavy weapons, these ships are a prized arsenal within both NC and UNSC navy, despite only having a hanger with pelicans and a few scout vehicles along with a tiny drop bay for deployment of ODSTs, a feature added during the covenant war, the destroyer extremely high mass comes from her incredibly thick armour and ten oversized generators, capable of powering everything on the ship two times over easily.

Though there is only one class of destroyers, there are slightly different variants of them, not enough to be considered to be a class themselves, but different for various types of operations, such as stealth mod for ambushes, heavier shields or weapons mods, etc., etc.

These ships are generally used as escorts alongside frigates or corvettes to take out enemy ships or draw their fire from carriers or frigates when they are deploying or evacuating soldiers. These ships are essentially the 'cruisers' of the citadel and are generally the flagships of small patrol groups.

Caution is advised when taking on cruisers class or higher classes of ships as they out gun these ships easily as well as have heavy shielding that can deflect most of a destroyers weapon easily, including energy projectors.

**Weapons:  
**-Mk X 'Heavy' MACs (X 4)  
-Mk IV (V. Light) Energy projector (X 1)  
-Mk II Ship-borne Super MACs (X 1, Replaces either the Energy projector or all Heavy MACs)  
-M205 Bolt fission Missiles (X 250)  
-M206 Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 250)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 50)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 100)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 40, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 70)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 4)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 8)  
**Complement**:  
-Platoon of ODST (X 45)  
-Squad of Spartan IV (X 4, Optional)  
-Drop bay (X 15 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 250)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 4)  
-Pelicans (X 6)  
**Hull rating:  
**Six meters of Titanium B2, Two meter of Tungsten A6 over vital areas.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Standard Extra-Heavy Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes, Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight Class.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **1305m  
**Width: **652m**  
Depth: **178m

-**Arctic Class Cruisers. 3*  
**The successors of the successors both the Marathon and upgraded Halcyon class cruisers used during the covenant war. Combining the Halcyon's cross bracing and honeycomb structure, somewhat standard on all classes of ships, even civilian ships, which is capable of sustaining 'hull breach on every deck and still remain operational' and with the energy recyclers on the Autumn's MAC, which allows them to triple shot, further upgraded to fire an extra two rounds, again, with the quad shot standard on most classes military vessels that uses the MAC, while Arctic uses the five shots, and combining it with the Marathons heavy armour and incredibly heavy guns design, the Arctic is a ship that could give many ships, including the ships above its class a good fight on it's own.

Despite the fact that these ship might seem heavy and cumbersome, these ships, though relatively slow, are quite mobile, able to quickly evade attacks with surprising speed and are consider to be flagships of small assault group or scouting groups.

But with all these advantages, much of the cruisers space has been dedicated to weapons and armour, with a significant of space for carrying troops. Hence with this, it's true disadvantage lies with her generators, and can't provide enough power to fire every weapons at once without significant drawbacks. More powerful generators are being developed by the UNSC mainly for the Arctics.

**Weapons:**  
-Mk XII Heavy MACs (X 3; five shots)  
-Mk III Super MACs (X 1)  
-Mk III Energy Projectors V. Med (X 2)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 300; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 250; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 20)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 250)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 60, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 50)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns (X 30)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 4)  
**Complement**:  
-Two Battalion Marines (X 1800- 2400)  
-Battalion ODST (X 500)  
-Platoon of Spartan IV (X 25, Optional)  
-Pelicans (X 25)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT(X 10)  
-SP102 Mambas (X 5)  
-Grizzly Heavy Battle Tank (X 6)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 7)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 25)  
-Mk IV Mantis (X 4)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 40, Gauss X 15, Plasma turret X 35, Rocket X 10, Fuel Rod X 15, concussion plasma shells X 20)  
-Wasps (X 40)  
-Ravens (X 25)  
-AC-540 Basilisk Gunship (X 3)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 15)  
-Drop bay (X 120 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 590)  
**Hull rating:  
**Five meters of Titanium B2, Four meter of Tungsten A6 outer plating.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Advanced Medium Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes, Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight Class.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **1895m  
**Width: **752m**  
Depth: **206m

-**Marauder Class Heavy Cruisers. 2*  
**Marauder Heavy Class Cruisers have a lesser amount and weaker 'main' weapons than an Arctic, but with what it has and if used correctly, one Marauder class could take on three Arctics. Similarly to destroyers, the majority of the ship's size come from its armour and not it's capacity to carry things.

The Marauder's real power lies with it's incredibly powerful shields, thick Hulls and considerable, which should be mentioned that it could take a single ODP Super MAC round and survive with minimal damage (caution is should be applied when comparing ship Super MACs with ODP super MACs), speed, with purpose, unlike other capitals, is to take hits for the weaker ships such as frigates, as they do damage to enemy up close.

Like and unlike many other ships of the covenant, this class of ships are armed with an excessive amount of missile, pulse lasers and Plasma torpedoes/lances, for 'knife-fights' against other ships while it's escorts or other capitals bombard the enemy with MACs and Energy projectors.

Due to the role and purpose of this ship, it can be destroyed quite easily if the commander makes even a single mistake, hence why it's almost never used as a flag ship and deployed with at least a few other Marauders.

This is one of the few ships that can be solely AI controlled.

**Weapons:**  
-Mk X Heavy MACs (X 2)  
-Mk III Energy Projectors V. light (X 1)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 800; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 800; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 150)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 800)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 250, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 250)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns (X 60)  
-Mk II EMP turrets (X 10)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 8)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 50)

**Complement**:  
-None if AI.  
-Two company Marines (X 250)  
-Company ODST (X 110)  
-Squad of Spartan IV (X 8; optional)  
-Pelicans (X 15)  
-M-26 Warthog (LAAG X 5)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 6)  
-Drop bay (X 30 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pods (X 620)  
**Hull rating:  
**Thirty meters of Titanium B2, Ten meter of Tungsten A3 outer plating.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Advance Ultra-Heavy Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes, Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight Class.  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **2468m  
**Width: **894m**  
Depth: **287m

-Infinity Class Super Cruisers. 2*

The infinity class, one of the few ships made during/straight after the covenant war not decommissioned yet. Aside from it is sentimental and symbolic value as to when humanity began ascending and eventually becoming a galactic super power on par with the covenant, the heavy capital ship, with the correct technology refits, could still easily rip most ship apart, despite not being the strongest of humanity ships anymore. Currently the Infinity class has seen some major upgrades, such as size increase and thicker Hulls along with more powerful weapons, shields, generators and computer systems.

The most notable feature on this ship is that despite being classified as a cruiser, it could have also been correctly classified as a carrier of sort due to the large amount of vehicles and troops it carries and is usually recognized by some in the navy as a sort carrier instead.

**Weapon:  
**-Mk XI Heavy MACs (X 4)  
-Mk III Energy Projectors V. Med (X 1)  
-Mk III Super MACs (X 1)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 650; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 650; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 100)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 800)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 200, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 220)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns (X 50)  
-Mk II EMP turrets (X 4)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 4)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 10)

**Complement**:  
-One Brigade of Marines (X 5000)  
-Battalion ODST (X 900)  
-Company of Spartan IV (X 105)  
-Pelicans (X 550)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT (X 110)  
-Grizzly Heavy tanks (X 65)  
-SP102 MBT Mambas (X 50)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 85)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 50)  
-M630 Mammoths (X 8)  
-Mk XII Mantis (X 35)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 80, Gauss X 35, Plasma turret X 75, Rocket X 40, Fuel Rod X 40, concussion plasma shells X 60)  
-Wasps (X 70)  
-Ravens (X 55)  
-AC-540 Basilisk Gunship (X 20)  
-Walsh Class Light Frigate (X 6)  
-Nightingales Stealth Corvettes (X 2)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 40)  
-Drop bay (X 200 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 1180)  
**Hull rating:  
**Ten meters of Titanium B2, Eight meter of Tungsten A3 outer plating.  
**Shielding:  
**Yes. Advance Heavy Shielding.**  
FTL capable:  
**Yes; (Moonlit Starlight Class).  
**Atmosphere rated:  
**Yes.  
**Length: **6172m  
**Width: **1123m**  
Depth: **1422m

-**Stalker Class Stealth Cruisers. 1*  
**The Stalker class stealth cruisers are only slight larger than a Heavy frigate, but is armed with less, but significantly more powerful weapons. The Stalkers have relatively thick Hulls and are used as flagships along with a small group of prowlers as surgical strike groups to spearhead an assault, ambushing enemy ship(s), supporting fleets in action against enemy fleets, capturing enemy officers, search and rescue and so on and forth where stealth and surprise is an essential element for a successful outcome.

Stalkers have a very small varieties of vehicles, with most of them rapid strike type vehicles such as warthogs, salamanders, ghosts, etc. Stalkers are mainly employed by ONI and are very rarely seen, aside from being attached to important fleets, such as the home fleet that defends Earth.**  
Weapons:  
**-Mk X Heavy MAC (X 1)  
-Mk X Light MACs (X 2)  
-Mk VI Pulse lasers (X 200)  
-Mk V 'Variant B' Plasma torpedoes/lances (X 50, Interchangeable)  
-M205 Bolt light fission missiles( X 250)  
-Mk VIII(S) Shive Nuclear warhead (X 10)  
-Guardian Space Mines (X 500)  
-Impulse Nuclear Space Mines (X 150, 100 Megatons)  
-Spark EMP mines (X 250)  
-Mk II Nova (optional, X 1-4)  
**Complement:  
**-One Battalion Marines (X 600)  
-Company ODST (X 110)  
-Platoon of Spartan IV (X 25, Optional)  
-Pelicans (X 45)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 15)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 25, Gauss X 5, concussion plasma shells X 10)  
-Wasps (X 10)  
-Mk IV Long swords(S) (X 5)  
-Drop bay (X 60 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 310)  
**Hull rating:  
**Two meters of Titanium B2(S), seventy centimetres of A7(S) Tungsten outer-plating.**  
Shielding:  
**Yes; Advance Stealth Shielding**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes; Being refitted with moonlit starlight class.**  
Atmosphere Rated: **Yes**  
Length: **1250 meters**  
Width: **706 meters**  
Depth:** 120 meters

**-****Overlord Class Carriers 3*  
**Even before the war against with the covenant, carriers capable of carrying large amount of troops and vehicles along with the ability of successfully fight against enemy ships have been only partially adopted, with old carriers sporting an heavy MAC gun along with hundreds of point defences and missiles, but very thin hulls and too many lives with not enough weapons to out gun other ships. At the time before the covenant war, an actual 'combat carriers', as they were called, were simply an idea not taken too seriously as it was simply not needed as much when you can send in frigates and destroyers to engage the enemy while the carrier stayed safely at the back.

When the covenant came though, this was not the case. Frigates were essentially flying death traps with their relatively weak light MACs and thin hulls, while destroyers only fared slightly better. This left the UNSC carriers in an incredible vulnerable position where the covenant could just gut them with one or two plasma torpedoes. Along with seeing the effectiveness of the covenant own carriers, when given substantial amounts of weapons and armour, the UNSC decided to take a page out of the covenant book and redesign their own carriers capable of holding it is own. This eventually led to many variants of combat carriers, with the most basic being the Overlord class carriers, where their main purpose is to maintain orbital dominance and support the ground forces while maintaining that dominance. Overlords are rarely used as flagships.

Finally it also should be noted that all carriers type in both UNSC and Neo-covenant possesses limited stealth capabilities.**  
Weapons:  
**-Mk XI Heavy MACs (X 2)  
-Mk X Medium MACs (X 4)  
Mk III Energy projectors(Light) (X 1)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 450; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 550; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 200)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 650)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 150, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets (X 160)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns (X 150)  
-Mk II EMP turrets (X 8)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 2)  
**Complement:  
**-Brigade of Marines (X 4500)  
-Battalion ODST (X 1300)  
-Company of Spartan IV (X 100)  
-Pelicans (X 250)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT (X 96)  
-Grizzly Heavy tanks (X 64)  
-SP102 MBT Mambas (X 33)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 58)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 100)  
-M630 Mammoths (X 4)  
-Mk XII Mantis (X 22)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 100, Gauss X 20, Plasma turret X 55, Rocket X 30, Fuel Rod X 30, concussion plasma shells X 45)  
-Wasps (X 150)  
-Ravens (X 100)  
-AC-540 Basilisk Gunship (X 10)  
-Walsh Class Light Frigate (X 2)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 150)  
-Drop bay (X 250 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 780)  
**Hull rating:  
**Eight Meters Titanium B2; Four meters of Tungsten A7 over vital areas.**  
Shielding:  
**Yes; Advance Heavy shielding.**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes; Being refitted with Moonlit starlight class.**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes.**  
Length: **3500 meters**  
Width:** 410 meters**  
Depth:**190 meters

**-****Inheritance Class Siege Carriers 2*  
**The very first type of ship to have a ship borne super MAC mounted on it. The siege carriers were initially another attempt to keep up with the Sangheili military might and when the UNSC joined the Neo-covenant, the sangheili bought a number of these ships to serve as flagship over small fleets in defence of colonies that were more out of the way in contrast to other colony due to the Super MAC mounted on the ship capable of decimating almost any ship in one to two hits and being a carrier, is capable of carrying large amount of troops to deploy at a moment's notice or carrying the planets occupants away in the event should the fleet lose the battle.

As the years progressed, the UNSC has continued to tweak with the design on the siege carrier until modern day, where the inheritance class was designed. The inheritance sports powerful five generators dedicated solely to power it's single energy projector and double Super-MACs along with four Heavy one and has many thousands of secondary type weapons to support the ship.

Finally like it's name implies, the siege carrier has the capability for a prolong siege against a planet at a moment notice, armed with a small production facility, a small fleet can almost indefinitely be supplied with vehicles, ammo, armour, etc. as long as it has the material to process.**  
Weapons:  
**-Mk XI Heavy MACs (X 4)  
-Mk III Energy Projector V. Med (X 1)  
-Mk III Super MACs (X 2)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 1150; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 900; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 450)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 1200)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances(Heavy) (X 500, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets(Heavy) (X 450)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns(Heavy) (X 250)  
-Mk II EMP turrets (X 50)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 8)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 60)  
**Complement:  
**-Two Brigade of Marines (X 10000)  
-Three Battalion ODST (X 3500)  
-Battalion of Spartan IV (X 650)  
-Pelicans (X 1040)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT (X 450)  
-Grizzly Heavy tanks (X 300)  
-SP102 MBT Mambas (X 260)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 450)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 250)  
-M630 Mammoths (X 12)  
-Mk XII Mantis (X 300)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 580, Gauss X 320, Plasma turret X 580, Rocket X 200, Fuel Rod X 200, concussion plasma shells X 400)  
-Wasps (X 560)  
-Ravens (X 300)  
-AC-540 Basilisk Gunship (X 70)  
-Marauder class Heavy cruisers (X 2)  
-Walsh Class Light Frigate (X 6)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 400)  
-Drop bay (X 600 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 4900)  
**Hull rating:  
**Twenty Five meters Titanium B2, Ten Meters Tungsten A7.**  
Shielding:  
**Yes; Advance Super heavy shielding**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes; Being refitted with Moonlit Starlight class.**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes**  
Length:** 10293 meters**  
Width: **4026 meters**  
Depth: **1654 meters

**-****Firestorm Class Super-carriers 0*  
**The largest and most heavily armed ship as of far designed by the UNSC, firestorm super carrier size is only equal or exceeded by the covenant own super carriers and the one that is currently being designed by the cooperation of both races.

Firestorms, due to it's size, are capable of carrying hundreds of thousands of troops and many thousands of vehicles capable for immediate deployment against the enemy if needed, but also armed with thousands of weapons to decimate enemy fleets, off course with many generators to power them, and just like the siege carrier, it's also armed with a production facility capable of supporting a prolong engagement against the enemy. Also due to the size of these super carriers, each one have internal transit systems which acts somewhat like a public transport system where people wait at a stop for the bus.

One of these super-carriers can easily decimate entire fleets and are usually used as flagships, leading entire fleets into battle. These ships are rarely seen in command by anyone lower than a rear-admiral and are flagships to many of the UNSC larger fleets. Fleet Admiral Hood has command of one of these ships over the defence of Earth. So far in the UNSC and Neo-covenant naval strengths of tens of thousands of ships combined, only a little over a hundred of these ships exist between the two navies and two more are under construction in the shipyards over Reach and are due to finish in half a year.**  
Weapons:  
**-Mk XI Heavy MACs (X 6)  
-Mk III Energy Projector V. Heavy (X 8)  
-Mk III Super MACs (X 4)  
-M205 Oversized Bolt fission Missiles (X 3500; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 2900; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 2500)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 5600)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances(Heavy) (X 2500, Interchangeable)  
-Mk VI Needler Shard Turrets(Heavy) (X 3500)  
-Mk III Plasma Deck guns(Heavy) (X 2050)  
-Mk II EMP turrets (X 590)  
-Mk VIII Shiva Nuclear Warheads (X 150)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 850)  
**Complement:  
**-One Field Army of Marines (X 110,000)  
-One Brigade ODST (X 4500)  
-Brigade of Spartan IV (X 3800)  
-Pelicans (X 4500)  
-M901 Scorpions MBT (X 1580)  
-Grizzly Heavy tanks (X 950)  
-SP102 MBT Mambas (X 1000)  
-M30 MAAT Leopards (X 900)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 1050)  
-M630 Mammoths (X 35)  
-Mk XII Mantis (X 670)  
-M-26 Warthogs (LAAG X 1292, Gauss X 853, Plasma turret X 1200, Rocket X 940, Fuel Rod X 940, concussion plasma shells X 1065)  
-Wasps (X 1050)  
-Ravens (X 760)  
-AC-540 Basilisk Gunship (X 150)  
-Marauder class heavy Cruisers (X 4)  
-Rapture Class Heavy Frigate (X 8)  
-Blitz Class Heavy Corvettes (X 5)  
-Mk IV Long swords (X 680)  
-Drop bay (X 5000 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pod (X 16780)  
**Hull rating:  
**Fifty Meters Titanium B2, Twenty meters Tungsten A7 outer plate. **  
Shielding:  
**Yes; Advance Ultra Heavy shielding with medium backup shielding**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes. Moonlit starlight have already been fitted on.**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes**  
Length:** 52813 meters**  
Width: **11527 meters**  
Depth: **16267 meters

**-****Savior Class Repair and Refit/Hospital Ships 0*  
**The Saviours are beacons of light and hope in endless tides of darkness in the void of space. These ships though larger than a siege carrier with incredibly heavy shields and hulls second to that of a Marauder and firestorm but have virtually no weapons for a ship of it is size. Not made or design to engage enemy ships yet to take an unprecedented amount of punishment, the saviours are made to dive headfirst into the heart of battle with one intent only: To save the lives of the wounded and dying of friendly units, and depending on the circumstances, the enemy as well.

Saviour class also has a large hanger containing many vehicles for transportation of wounded as well as vehicle designed for warfare, but these are mainly used to escort wounded back to landing sites or corpsmen to where they are needed most, while the ship itself has a constant escort of an infinity class super cruiser, two Arctics and four destroyers when deployed to area where they are needed, even if said area are secured by NC forces beforehand.

Due to the ship purpose, it has gained the respect of many within the UNSC and NC forces after saving hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives from many engagement in the past, even some insurrectionists from the UNSC respect those who served aboard those ships to ignore them when encountered. These ships are distinguished from other military vessels from the UNSC medical symbol of a red square with a lighter shade of red circle with snakes circling a pole with wings and the only ship to house civilian doctors and scientists.**  
Weapons:  
**-Light MACs (X 2)  
-M205 Bolt fission Missiles (X 400; 40 missiles per pod)  
-M206 Oversized Incineration Plasma Core missiles (X 250; 35)  
-Mk V 'Skirmishers' Twin Defensive Rail guns (X 380)  
-Mk VI Pulse Lasers (X 1800)  
-Mk V Plasma Torpedoes/lances (X 100, Interchangeable)  
-Mk I Hard-light defensive Anti-ship Flak cannons (X 50)  
**Complement:  
**-Brigade of marines (X 5000)  
-Battalion of ODST (X 1200)  
-Platoon of Spartan IV (X 30; optional)  
-Pelicans (X 300)  
-M-421 Ultra-light all-terrain vehicles; Salamanders (X 250)  
**-**M-26 Force application vehicle; warthogs (LAAG X 400, Gauss X 100, Troop transport X 600)  
-M630 Mammoths (modified for medical purposes X 10)  
-Drop bay (X 250 HEVs)  
-Fox Escape pods (X 9500)**  
Hull rating:  
**25 meters Titanium B2, Eight meters Tungsten A3 outer plating**  
Shielding:  
**Yes. Advance Ultra-Heavy shielding**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes. Starlight Moonlit class slip space engine.**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes.**  
Length: **15000 meters**  
Width: **6128 meters**  
Depth: **1891 meters

**-****[CLASSIFIED] Class Super Carriers.  
**A project undertaken by the combined effort of both covenant and UNSC, with the first ship still under construction, the [CLASSIFIED] class are still under construction, while the construction of the ship is known to everyone, within both civilian and military, as another project that is green-lighted by the brass of both militaries as another step to bring the people closer, but only the exact details of the ship itself are known by the head of government and military.

What is known is that this carrier will be larger and more powerful than the firestorm supercarriers created by the UNSC and the CSE Super carrier currently used by the Neo-covenant. These ships will carry thousands upon thousands of weapons, military vehicles and soldiers and able to wage a small war on their own.

Not much else is known about these ships at the moment.  
**Weapons:  
**-[CLASSIFIED]**  
Complement:  
**-[CLASSIFIED]**  
Hull rating:  
**[CLASSIFIED]**  
Shielding:  
**Yes; [CLASSIFIED]**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes; [CLASSIFIED]**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes**  
Length:** 60 km (minimum)**  
Width:**[CLASSIFEID]**  
Depth:**[CLASSIFIED]

**-****Unity Class Space Station**  
Another project undertaken by both Neo-covenant and UNSC in an attempt to further cooperation between the two powers. Unity has been looked on by many as a 'dawn of a new age' where peace again is something that can be achieved since the covenant war almost half a millennium ago.

Unity will function like High Charity of the old covenant, not as the capital of the Neo-covenant, but still an extremely important location, and will be home to millions of people, both civilian and military of all races that have signed up to be the first to live in the gigantic space station exceeding the size of high charity itself.

Unity, by far, is the largest construction task ever undertaken by both UNSC/UEG and Neo-covenant, exceeding the size of High charity began almost a century ago. This behemoth of a space station will have two full size feet task to her defence at any one time and some within the military even hypothesise that the new super-carriers are being made solely for this purpose.

Right now the construction of Unity is already completed and final touches are being added. The first of the space station occupants are due to arrive in two weeks' time and the space station itself is being set to be unveiled to the rest of the Neo-covenant over Harvest in three days after that. The only unclassified detail about the space station technical data so far is the size.  
**Weapons:  
**-[CLASSIFIED]**  
Complement:  
**-[CLASSIFIED]**  
Hull rating:  
**[CLASSIFIED]**  
Shielding:  
**Yes; [CLASSIFIED]**  
FTL Capable:  
**Yes;[CLASSIFIED]**  
Atmosphere Rated:  
**Yes**  
Length:** 612 km**  
Width:** 515 km**  
Depth: **329 km**  
END DATAPAD…  
EXITING DATAPAD…**

…  
**SUCCESSFUL DISCONNECTION OF DATAPAD…**  
**CLOSING AND ENCRYPTING DATA…**  
**DATA SUCCESSFULLY ENCRYPTED….**  
**HAVE A NICE DAY…**

* * *

**R&R.**

I know it has been quite a while since I updated, but that can be due to the fact of this extremely long 'Codex' of UNSC ships as you can see…which was surprisingly hard to write…I will be doing 'part two' of the covenant fleet next chapter, and expect it to be around the same length, hence don't expect a fast update…

Finally if anyone wants to play Halo 4 or anything, whether be doing campaign or Spartan ops on Legendary or against other people in war games/customs, I'm even up for grinding certain weapons…Such as assault rifle or suppressors…Can't use those weapons for shit if my life depended on it, even got more kills with my plasma pistol…Sure I got a few kills, but I would die 5 times in a row first…Also I should let people know I'm not that good at H4…Also no mic unless you really like background noise...  
Xbox live acc: Shadowz081

* * *

**Credits:  
****The following people helped me in one way or another creating this chapter that I felt should be mentioned:**

**Worldwanderer2.0  
**Provided me with idea of names and certain schematics that I have incorporated into the UNSC ships Codex. Currently I am using the Needler Shard turret and at the very least the name of moonlit starlight class Slip space drives, both created by this person. Credits for these goes to him and might be further incorporating further designs of his make into my story in the future. Any designs incorporated will be mentioned.

**Michael1110**  
He proof read this chapter and helped me fix up some typos and suggested things that could be changed to make it better. Also threw some ideas around with him.


	5. Chapter 3: Homecoming of the gods

**Alright…First things first, excuses why I didn't update this story: Firstly, it was out of pure laziness and 360, and before I knew it school started again and now I find myself in college diploma of engineering as an alternate pathway into Uni engineering, if my score is high enough, and hopefully if I get enough marks, I would find myself in science/Engineering double degree next year, hence a lot of work, even if school just began. So that is my excuse of why I didn't update.**

**Also secondly, I must forewarn that I have no clue of when the next update is going to be as this is just going to get more and more hectic as I need to finish homework and study to get a score of 78 precent or higher on my diploma to achieve my goal.**

**-o(_~~~!READ THIS!IMPORTANT!~~~)o-_ **

**To some of the readers that wanted the NC to not immediately/ever associate with quarians on any type of good terms, I kind of wrote this part before certain reviews came my attention...I will change it that they won't be best friends, but they won't be despised or hated. Kind of like mutual respect when you meet a stranger on the streets, despite seemingly good terms now.)  
**

**Finally, answer certain reviews in no particular order:**

**ObsidianUnknown66+many others with similar views:  
****The status of reclaimer to my belief is not of their 'history' and what they have done in the past, but keyed into their DNA. So in all technicalities all humans, even medieval humanity from our world could activate and unlock forerunner tech if they found any and if it actually existed. I will not change this as it will be a waste of resources for the forerunners and allies to go around changing the DNA keys and programming on their stuff since it is no longer connected to the 'Domain'. Might as well just go and retrieve it for the UNSC and be done with it…**

**But who said the citadel would find any? Remember how the Reapers placed Mass Relays away from any 'obvious' forerunner installation they couldn't capture or destroy? Also remember how the portal to the Ark remained unknown to the UNSC underneath Africa near Voi till H3?**

**Guest that reviewed 2/10/13 on chapter 1:  
****High Charity was covenant built, or more specifically San Shyuum built by ripping of a huge chunk of their home world's crust. It was powered by a forerunner Key ship that was 11 km 'high' or so. Forerunner didn't have dreadnaughts thousands of km long. I did my research…The biggest ship they had at the time of the flood war was a hundred km long, and that is their fortress classes, despite the ability to build planets sized installation and solar systems.**

**Guest that reviewed 3/18/13 on chapter 4:****  
Firstly. No offense, but can you place future reviews with some paragraphs, that was a bit hard to read. But onto your review. Initially, yes, I was going to integrate the quarians into the NC under the reason they wanted an advantage over the citadel and learn more about Mass Effect, but after thinking it over with some more discussing the idea, it changed significantly. Quarians relations with the rest of the galaxy would 'relatively good', while their status with the citadel will be the same**

**Issue that readers have with tech.  
****Yes, you might not see it on ships -(!) YET (!)-, but NC does have infantry hardlight equipment, they may also have hardlight weapons for vehicles. Yes, I MIGHT go back and up the 'speed' for NC slip space drives if enough people wants it to change and give an actual good reason for it to be.**

**Now with that done, let the story begin!**

* * *

_"I still find it hard to believe what they did to and some of your best during the human-flood wars…I still can't believe I agreed to such a process…"_

"_Is it, Delta? They only did the process to twenty of us Dark Templars, and that was after very thorough assessment, but still half of us…failed…and we had many other faults as well, like our unending hunger and almost insatiable urge to consume all…Despite all the faults and problems being fixed now…Be glad that you never had to feel such a thing, nor did you experience the pain of going through the augmentation when it was…incomplete…"_

"_Incomplete?"_

"_Yes…Twenty of my brothers and sister went through the same process along with me…when at best as an experimental procedure with much inefficiency and…'bugs'…It was desperate times…We were the desperate measures…"_

"_What do you think will happen if the people find out though…Would they shun us? Would the rest of HIGHCOM order our assassinations?"_

"_Personally I couldn't care less if everyone in the universe hates me…I do what is necessary to complete my objective and defend my people…Would they shun us? Perhaps…wouldn't be surprised if they did…Would the brass order us dead? No…definitely not…We are too valuable to them…They might fake our deaths but that's about it…Besides…Some of them might be cold and callous, but they are not evil and corrupt…But I wish to ask you, knowing that I us for what we are now, do you look at us and see not just mine, but your brothers and sisters in arms who have agreed, as abominations needed to be purged? Do you see yourself as one of them, despite having similar…abilities now?"_

"…_No…"_

"_Good…Now stop being emotional about it and become the soldier I have fought and came to respect ten thousand years ago during the human-forerunner war…Now time to begin our lesson…"  
__**-Recorded conversation between High Supreme Commanders Crepusculum and First Light of a New Dawn an hour after conclusion of PROJECT:DENIQUE EVOLUTION. **_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Homecoming of the gods.**  
**Year: 2164 CE/3000 AD  
Citadel: Council chambers.  
**After the discovery of not just another race behind the mass relay but two separate civilization, both of which from the reports that the citadel council read when the flotilla under the command of captain Vandus returned to the citadel. They were especially shock to read the part that it was the quarians that opened the mass relays in the first place to escape pursuing pirates and that there were another two groups of humans that were separate to the System Alliance and had ships bigger than the Asari's three and a half km long dreadnaught,_ Destiny Ascension_, and possibly more powerful too, in turn implies to them that they might no longer be the most powerful and advanced super power in the galaxy.

This assumption was further strengthened as they continued reading and they became more distressed when they read the part where a race called the 'forerunners' and their allies, which were a second group of human not part of the System Alliance and this Neo-covenant, and the 'first' human civilization to achieve space flight and an alien race they had never heard of going by the name of the San Shyuums, were all capable of building planet sized structures and creating entire solar systems, as evidence the attached images showing hundreds of ships of different designs and size floating around like ants in comparison to the giant ring world with the surface matching that of a garden world, signifying that it was fully habitable, due to scaling of the image and size of the ring, the councillors could not tell the sizes of the ships the two civilization used.

As the council finished reading they could only silently stare at the codex with evident shock on their faces. A moment later the Asari councillor broke the silence, "Well…this is…Unexpected…"

The turian councillor snorted lightly, "That's the understatement of the century, Tevos…"

The Salarian councillor then added his two cents in, "Agreed, but what do we do about the quarians for breaking our laws and these two unknown civilizations now?"

"I suggest we send a larger fleet through to secure the other side of the relay to make sure these new civilizations don't attack us, as well as keep an eye on the System Alliance to make sure they don't try anything…"

Tevos just sighed, "Sparatus, we should be sending envoys and diplomats across to them, not provoke them into starting a war or showing off our military might! Though I do agree that the System Alliance needs to be watched for the time being…Perhaps a group of STG operatives or a few spectres, Valern what do you think?"

The Salarian councillor identified as Valern was silent for a few seconds as he thought to himself, "I will dispatch a few groups of STGs to keep an eye on System Alliance as well as the quarians to make sure they don't try anything. And about the two civilizations, I agree we should be sending diplomats into negotiating peace with them and perhaps invite them into joining the citadel; after all there is a lot we can learn from their technology. I also agree that the other side of the relay has to be secured…But I do not believe sending in an entire fleet is a good idea as it can be misinterpreted as an act of hostility…I propose that we send another small fleet over, perhaps thirty ships or so to reinforce the current ships stationed there, backed up with STGs to keep an eye on the new civilizations, while the majority of the fleet remains behind the relay in case they do prove hostile."

The other two councillors nodded as they saw the logic behind the decision and Spartacus answered, "Then it's agreed…But what of the quarians, we cannot let this deed go unpunished! I propose that we fine them as well as have the ones who broke the law stand trial."

Valern quickly agreed, "Such actions cannot be ignored as the quarians reckless decision could have endangered us all if the civilization on the other side of the relay were like the Rachnis or Krogans. I second the motion."

Tevos nodded in agreement, "Very well, but what I suggest we send a small flotilla to speak with the quarians while a fleet stay a light-year or so away, ready to jump if they turn hostile. After all, we don't want to provoke them into attacking us the moment we arrive."

The other two nodded at that and Valern responded, "Off course, foolish to send a fleet straight in like that. Many things could go wrong and unnecessary lives could be lost. But what about these forerunners and their allies with the abilities to build entire worlds and systems along with humans as inheritors of everything they have supposedly left behind?"

Spartacus snorted at that, "Do you actually believe their claim to be able to build entire worlds? A civilization like that would have been encountered by us long before the citadel was even discovered. Besides, what proof do they have that they built the ring? It could have been built by the protheans and they simply inhabited it once they found it and the story could be to make themselves more powerful than what they truly are. And human presence in multiple locations of the galaxy could easily be explained that the protheans decided to move the humans to different worlds."

Tevos shook her head in disagreement, "Spartacus, you have read the report that Vandus wrote as well as the files containing their history."

"It could have been easily fabricated; I mean the files that they sent were so vague and general, there wasn't even any dates attached to it."

Valern nodded in agreement, "That is true, but it would be foolish to assume that it's false as if it's true without any solid proof. Beside this is first contact, we ourselves wouldn't give everything away to another race or civilization that we have just met. I mean it took us three years after we met the System Alliance before we even gave them the cyclonic barriers and thanix cannons and even than they weren't the most advanced models."

Spartacus just stared at the Salarian councillor in shock as he said that, "That may be true about first contact, but the amount of resources it took for the System Alliance to build Arcturus Station was enormous in the report they gave to us said. But to build a planet, let alone a solar system? The resources required for that would leave the every citadel race bankrupted for decades, if not centuries to come! Besides, Vandus reports also state that they don't use element zero, how advanced can their civilizations be?"

The other two secretly agreed with the last statement the turian councillor made but they kept that to themselves and Tevos spoke to the whole group, "If that is all, I suggest we continue tomorrow with a fresh mind as it's getting late."

The other two councillors nodded and the three went their separate ways.  
**  
Installation 08: Assault Carrier **_**Divine Intervention**_**.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.  
**Voro stood and watched the holograms as the surviving Neo-covenant ships were being repaired by a gigantic refit and repair vessel that had jumped in as soon as that 'citadel' government left. He still remembered the surprise and awe he felt, saw and heard from his crew and himself as the three hundred kilometre ship jumped into the system. Many of the sangheilis made comparison about that ship and _High Charity_ as it was one of two space stations that existed/exists that exceeds the ship.

Everyone on the bridge thought it was a warship or diplomatic ship of some sort until the forerunner admiral informed them that it was merely a Repair and Refit ship which doubled as a field hospital. This shocked everyone there including himself and the forerunner just chuckled stating that 'We have built the Halos and the Ark, the humans and San Shyuum can build entire solar systems from almost nothing. A ship like this is nothing compared to such achievements.'

The Fleetmaster could still see the logic behind that statement but still couldn't help but feel at awe in the presence of such a ship. Then the human admiral asked why their warships were so small in comparison to what they had seen and read. The forerunner than responded by telling them the ship he was currently on was classified merely as a medium-heavy cruiser and the actual flagship and his own ship for the this fleet was four hundred kilometre long heavy fortress class warship and the size of the fleet with any ships over fifty km long, which was at least half of the fleet was left behind as they didn't want to 'scare' anyone.

That was almost fifteen hours ago and in that time, the rest of the forerunner fleet jumped in revealing the 400km long flagship that was mentioned, along with many other ships dwarfing even the mentioned size of the new Super-Carrier joint project, only few constructions could even compare to that ship, and they were the human space elevators, High Charity and Unity.

The com pinged a few time showing a signal had originated from the four hundred Km long ship. Immediately the COM officer opened the channel and the forerunner Admiral appeared along with the commanding officers of the two other fleets.

"Have you decided on who is going to come with us to Harvest?"

The human Admiral nodded, "Command of Harvest has just been notified of your pending arrival, and The _Divine Intervention_ and the remainder of her fleet will be accompanying you to Harvest. Fleetmaster I trust your men along with the Quarian are on board?"

"All of my men along with the Quarians are on board and ready to leave whenever the forerunners are ready."

"Very well I will send you the coordinates for your ships to dock with ours."

The sangheili just had a confused look on his face and the Flames of Hope answered before Voro could ask, "I know we did not discuss this as I thought it would be obvious that your slip space drives are still inferior to ours. So if you decide to jump at the same time as our ships jump, you will be left behind, also our ships engine easily outpaces yours, and if you decide to ride on the stream we generate it will take us more time to reach our destination. So to counteract that, we decided it would be easier to just have your ships board with ours as we jump instead of retrofitting all your ships with our drives or engines."

As soon as everyone got the new orders, a waypoint appeared on the Navigation Coms of the twenty ships that were 'escorting' the forerunner group to either the hangers of the four hundred kilometre long 'heavy' fortress or one the hundred kilometre 'light' fortress class ships. Immediately all the ships began to head to the respective hangers with everyone anxious and nervous about boarding such ships.

As soon as the twenty ships was docked, the five forerunner ships entered slip space heading for Harvest, the capital of the Neo-covenant, chosen because of her history.  
**  
Assault Carrier: **_**Divine Intervention**_**  
Lia'Nara Vas Rayya.  
**Lia and her crew was on board the flagship of the fleet the first saw come to the ring before being attacked by the purple ships which they soon found out were 'loyalist' ships. The reason she and her crew were on board this ship heading to a neo-covenant controlled world was purely a last minute decision by the human admiral part to begin negotiations with her race, with her being a temporary diplomat. At first she was reluctant and nervous, but was soon persuaded by logic, namely that if they had wanted to do her and her race harm, they would have done it there and then, instead of just wasting time bringing them to one of their worlds.

Right now the crew that were injured were put into the medical ward, while the others that could walk were being given a general tour of the beautiful yet deadly ship in small groups to make things easier for the 'guides'. Afterwards all of them felt a small vibration run through the ship and shortly afterwards an announcement was made throughout the ship.

"Attention all personnel, our ship have successfully docked with the forerunner flagship. They have also given us permission us to board their ship, given that you don't steal or vandalize anything… Teleportation devices have just been installed in our hanger."

Lia eyes widened in shock as she process the information. The assault carrier she was on at the moment was roughly seven kilometre in length, than whatever ship they had just docked with must have been extremely large, after all she and her crew didn't see the other part of the forerunner fleet jump in being underground and teleported directly into the assault carrier at the time. So pulling the memory from her tour of the ship she immediately headed to the hanger along with all the other quarians in the mess hall. A while later everyone made it to the hanger to see a huge crowd waiting to use the teleporter which led into the ship, but it will be a while as the giant hanger that could fit three turian cruisers and still have room for a squadron of fighters was filled the brim with excited Humans, Sangheili, Kig-Yars, Unggoys and even Mgalekgolos and none of them could exactly get through the crowd. Slowly as the crowd thinned out as they went through the portal entering the forerunner ship and thirty minutes later she was the last one on the hanger and she anxiously steps through.

A moment later she appeared on the other side dizzy and weak kneed, but once she regained her bearing her eyes went wide and jaws dropped open almost immediately as she noticed the size of the hanger she was on as the crowd around her had similar reactions as well. Turning around she managed to get a good look at the assault carrier not too far away, but compared to the size of this hanger, if it can be called that, the ship, along with six others easily fitted in the hanger, and even than it had more than enough room to store all the other vehicles and equipment that this civilizations utilized.

"Keelah…How big is this ship…if it can be called a ship…"

"Apparently 400 kilometres long."

"Are you serious?!" Lia spun around so fast that she nearly fell over as she heard it and she saw an ODST in full armour behind her.

"Yeah, I saw the ship itself from the ring and one of them told me when I asked him."

Lia nodded as part of her mind processed the information of how her race could benefit by having an alliance with such a civilization while another part pondered on the voice that she felt she heard somewhere before.

"Are you that human Captain Scott that led us to the armoury?"

At first the ODST showed no visible reaction being in full body armour and began to speak up slowly, "Are you…Lia? The leader of the stranded group?"

The quarian nodded in affirmative, "It's good to see you are still alive, Captain."

"Thanks, it's good to see you alive too…Though can't say the same about the other few tens of thousands that died on or above the ring…"

The quarian nodded her head solemnly in agreement, "What about the rest of your men, did they make it out alive?"

"Unfortunately a few were KIA and many were wounded…Out of the thirty I had, only six, including myself made it out unscathed…So what are you doing here? I thought you would have remained on the_ Intervention_ to make sure your people were alright."

The quarian shrugged, "I would have, but all of the wounded have pretty much been stabilised. So might as well see what these forerunner-human-San Shyuum ships are like…"

"And what do you think of this ship so far?"

"Very impressive…I mean this hanger here looks like it could fit an entire fleet of dreadnoughts in here all at once, where I come from this ship would dwarf everything we have. How about you? How does this ship compare to the ones you have?"

The ODST shrugged as they wandered aimlessly with a small group of NC troops down the hanger towards what seemed like a door, "We have seen bigger…But still hell bigger than nearly all ships we have…"

The quarian looked puzzled, "What do you mean you have seen bigger? And don't tell me you actually have ships bigger than four hundred km in length…"

"Well…You know the ring you landed on? We have found others rings just like it, albeit smaller, but still just as large as a planet. And during the Human-Covenant war just under five hundred years ago, the covenant had a ship 450 km or so in length called _High Charity_, it served as the capital of the covenant at the time and was destroyed towards the end of that war."

The quarian nodded as she took the information, slightly in shock at this behemoth of a ship named _High Charity_, and someone had the firepower to destroy such a ship and many more questions came into mind concerning the history of this Neo-covenant, "When did you join  
this covenant anyway? And how long did that war last?"

Scott just sighed as his shoulders visibly slumped, before he recomposed himself, "The UNSC and by extension the UEG joined the Neo-covenant around a hundred and fifty years ago and only because it would benefit humanity to have allies in case something similar to that war was to ever occur again. And the war itself lasted around thirty years and that was a little under five hundred years ago, but even than not all the animosity is gone."

"What caused the war and was it like from your perspective?"

"This is beginning to sound more and more like an interview…Well, religion caused the war, if you could believe that…Humanity was considered an affront to their gods at the time, and many considered and still consider it humanities darkest hour…But with the discovery of ancient humans and this System Alliance…Well…It can't really be considered humanities darkest hour anymore now can it? At least not till we find out more about their history…But still I have confidence even if it isn't, it will be considered one of them that is easily in the top five war of my in general in which my species has ever fought in…Not that it should be something we should be proud off, but none the less it is something that my people doesn't like to talk about too much."

The quarian nods and decides to stop with the questions for now and both fell into comfortable silence as they made their way down a nearly empty hall of the ship.  
**  
3000AD 23****rd**** August, 19:11:07; Epsilon Indi system  
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest:  
Sensor station in orbit of Harvest.  
**Ensign Maxwell sighed dully for the thousandth time of the day as he sat in front of his post as he flipped a coin that was used during 21st century up and down. A moment later alarms blared loudly as he was about to fling the coin upwards. Recomposing himself and pocketing his coin he immediately went to work and found 5 **VERY** large objects heading their way in slip space. Immediately he opened a COM to every military and civilian ship and orbital installation in the system, "Slip-space ruptures have been detected! Five unknown ships at the very least of a hundred km long each has been detected entering the system and heading towards Harvest!"

The fleet of nine hundred fifty ships, with Ten being either 'CSE' or 'firestorm' class super-carriers, stationed at the planet began to move to protect the planet and the thirty Mk VI super MACs in a defensive position as civilian crafts swarmed behind the protective line, while a few carriers moved into orbit, ready to evacuate civilians and ground forces if needed and military garrisons were being set on alert.

Not even ten seconds passed as five ships began to exit, Maxwell mouth slowly fell open as four of the ships were easily a hundred km in length each, while the obvious flagship of the group was easily four times larger and dwarfing everything in the system…even he doubted the Super MACs could hold them at bay for long if they were to engage an actual fleet consisting of hundreds of ships like that. Before anyone could do anything, the Fleet Admiral voice sounded over the COMs. "All units stand down. They have been expected…"

What puzzled him was the twenty ships which resembled the designs of the neo-covenant and UNSC were dropped out from the larger ships. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed a request for communication from the leading 400km ship…

Destination: Harvest; Five hours in Slip Space.  
Assault Carrier:

_**Divine Intervention**_**  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.**  
It had been just over five hours in slip space and just over fifteen minute before everyone returned to their respective ships, many still avidly discussing about the 400km long ship they had just been allowed to explore, and just less than twenty seconds ago when the ships exited slip space, his ship was deployed. From his bridge he could see the defence fleet formed up in front of Harvest forming a barrier between the forerunner ships and the planet while still holding fire.

Suddenly a few holograms from what he recognized as officials of various races from Harvest, both military and civilians, appeared in front of him.

"Fleetmaster, we have been expecting you…I trust there have been no complications when you initially met them?"

"Not at all Admiral…They have even assisted us in dealing with the loyalist fleet when it was almost certain that we would have lost."

The Admiral nodded having received a short report of what transpired in the system prior to their arrival, "Indeed, anyway, we are not ready to begin the negotiation yet due to the short notice of things, and it would be at least another hour or two to get everything prepared…"

"Rear Admiral Flames of Hope. Our own diplomats won't be in the system for at least half a day, so you will have time to prepare."

One of the officials on the civilian side of the government nodded, "Until your diplomats arrive, we would like to extend an invitation to you and your people for a stay at the capital of Harvest, Utgard."

"We graciously accept the offer."

With that, the forerunner admiral disconnected the COMs along with some of Harvest's officials while the Harvest fleet parted way to allow the newcomers to past, though they still have their weapons trained on them in case they proved to be hostile, and the forerunner battle group moved into high orbit of the planet before deploying a few drop ships towards the landing pads of Utgard.

Voro than turned to the officials who were still connected to the channel, "There is still some matter that I wish to discuss before I leave."

The Fleet Admiral nodded, "During our trip, we not only encountered the ancients, but another government similar to ours that goes by the name of the 'citadel'."

"Do they pose a threat to us?"

"Currently no. Even if we were to go to war, our ships would greatly outmatch theirs, or at least those that were present. We do not know their true strengths, but we do know that they rely on something called 'Element Zero' for FTL travel, weapons operation and just about everything to do with their space flight at least…"

"I see…Is there anything else we should know about before I send a report to the high council and JOCOM (Joint Command)?"

"Two more things. There was a group of aliens that crash-landed on the installation we discovered that went by the names of the quarians. When the brutes attacked, they assisted our forces in holding them off while suffering many casualties. Currently the quarians are on board my ship as we speak, and no they are not part of the citadel, and even holds a grudge against them…They could be helpful allies in the long term against this 'citadel' in my opinion, despite their paranoia against our AIs."

"And the second thing?"

"There was a splinter group of humans that were not allies with the forerunners or part of the UNSC, but as part of the this citadel alliance. They go by the name of the System Alliance and their ships are similar if not slightly inferior to the other races of the citadel. If they do prove hostile, we can easily destroy the System Alliance before annexing them into the Neo-covenant."

If the Fleet Admiral was surprised he didn't show it, while others clearly showed theirs, "Do you know their origins?"

"We do know that the forerunners didn't separate humanity and placed them on different planets, so that means they must have originated from the UNSC and so far there have been two theories formed. First one is that, they are insurrectionist descendants, or secondly, they are lost colonist from the early years of the UNSC when the UNSC still has little understanding of the slip space itself…I believe it will be easier to send you the records on the events that took place than actually explain it."

The fleet Admiral nodded as he received the report and skimmed over it, "Thank you Fleetmaster, this will make my life that much easier when I send the report…"

"Off course, if you don't mind, most of my warriors wish to rest on Harvest before returning to duty…After all, they deserved it from what transpired less than a day ago."

"Off course, just keep an eye on the quarians if they want to explore Utgard."

"Very well…" With that the COMs disconnected and the remainder of the 20th slowly moved towards the planet and some into its atmosphere before launching their own drop ships, while others docked with stations in orbit around Harvest.  
**  
99,975NE: Fourteen hours and fifty minute in slip space.  
En-route: Epsilon Indi system Neo-covenant Capital; Harvest.  
Sigma POV.**  
In the diplomatic ship escorted by two first model fortress class ships and 6 heavy cruisers, Sigma stood alone in the empty hallway of the fifteen kilometre long diplomatic ship staring into the void of slip-space. His wife had been sent ahead with the advanced 'recon' fleet to establish peaceful contact with the Neo-covenant before the diplomats came, while he himself was tasked with the protection of said diplomats and was given temporary command of all military units currently with them until they met up with the ships that was sent ahead, which than command would be given to Admiral Flames of Hope.**  
**  
"Sigma, we have nine minutes till we arrive at system C2L1EZ8, dubbed 'Epsilon Indi' by the UNSC."

"Thank you, Spes."

With that Sigma began walking down towards the Hanger where he would be escorting the diplomats to the surface. But despite his calm and slightly cold demeanour, honed and perfected from having one hundred and ten thousand years of life with a total of more than a tenth of that preparing to or actually fighting one thing or another, but in his mind he was both anxious and nervous about the situation at hand. Send him into a flood infected planet with his armour and a weapon and tell him to kill every flood on the planet. He would burn the parasite off the planet without batting an eyelid. Send him into a meeting room filled with diplomats and politicians asking questions with double meanings while finding ways to turn your words against you and demanding this and that…Well he would rather be just about anywhere…But that was just part of it, the rest was due to the fact that he was going to see how his race's descendants had turn out after he and many others had gave just about everything for their survival, while even more was forced into a fate worse than death itself before finally being allowed to rest…  
Sigma noticed he had reached the hanger as he saw many people milling around as drones floated overhead. He saw the diplomatic team enter the drop ship along with the rest of the security detail and he sighed lightly before banishing his train of thought from his mind before boarding the dropship himself.

"Exiting Slip space in ten seconds."

"Thank you, Spes."

**3000AD 23****rd**** August, 19:11:07; Epsilon Indi system  
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest.  
**"Slip-space ruptures detected! IFF matches that of the forerunners!"

A few seconds after the sensors on one of the ODPs slip space officer said that, nine ships exited in simultaneously and in perfect formation, the two largest being fifty kilometres long each at the head, the other six were just over twenty km long behind them, and all of them surrounded a fifteen kilometre ship in the middle.**  
**  
"Sir we are being hailed by the ship in the middle of that formation!"

"Patch it through."

With a nod and figure in full body armour appeared on screen, "Greetings, I am the Captain of the Diplomatic ship, _Tranquil Conciliations_. Requesting permission to dock and begin negotiations with your officials."

"Permission granted _Tranquil Conciliations_. You may send your diplomats and escorts to _Utgard _station."

"Confirmed, sending drop ship to coordinates. _Tranquil Conciliations _out."

The fifteen kilometres long ship dropped a shuttle escorted by two fighters and headed towards the two and a half kilometres long station that also functioned as an ODP.  
As the shuttle entered the station, the two fighters broke off flew off back towards the _conciliations_ and as the door of the shuttle opened, everyone from the neo-covenant was watched in awe as eight figures with heavy armour and heavy weapons with a height of four metres exited, closely followed by another figure three and a half metres tall in slightly lighter armour and weapons, but unlike the initial eight, this one held an air of unnatural calmness, giving nothing away, but also held an air of authority and respect usually seen with high ranking officers and veterans. The ninth person looked around the station, analysing everyone and everything before nodding to himself once he was satisfied with the results. A moment later, three significantly smaller figures exited, each one also encased in armour, albeit significantly lighter and was unarmed. The lead humanoid figure than walked over to the four figures of the neo-covenant which they assumed were their own diplomats as they were better dressed than everyone else. Once the three reached the diplomat team, it showed that the lead figure was almost as tall as the sangheili ambassador himself.

"Greetings, I assume you are the representatives for each of your respective races in the Neo-covenant?"

A human wearing a black suit responded "That we are, I am Niel Samson, and my companions are Bero Taham."

The sangheili in ceremonial armour nodded, "The other is Yar Cham."

The Kig-Yar in an exotic robe with her feathers fancily done up nodded, "And finally we have Wiwip Lisu."

The Unggoy in a formal dark colour vest with a tank of methane and rebreather over his face nodded.

"Since you know who we are, may we know who we are talking to?"

The three introduced themselves, with the lead one identifying herself as human, while the other two identified as forerunner and San Shyuum respectively.

After the introductions were finished, the group followed by a small escort from both parties headed deeper into the station and into a conference room set up prior and contained the holograms of the governing body of each race along with that of the neo-covenant. Shortly after their introduction, the negotiations began with both parties trying not to offend or anger the other one.  
**  
3000AD 24****th**** August, 03:25:07; Epsilon Indi system  
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest.  
Hanger of **_**Utgard**_** station.  
**Eight hours later the meeting came to a conclusion with both sides relatively happy with the agreement that was made.

"I take it that you are now going to meet with the citadel council next?"

The Arbiter, Thel Vadam answered the question, "No we are not. We plan to meet with the quarians first in hopes of learning a bit more about the citadel before we meet with them."

"Very well, Arbiter. We will remain here until you are ready to meet the citadel."

The Arbiter just nodded, "It will be an honour to have you stay with us on the capital of the neo-covenant."

"The honour will be ours. If that is all, I bid you all a good and safe day."

The holograms disappeared simultaneously and the diplomats left the room heading for their shuttle.  
**  
3000AD 27****th**** August, 03:31:00; Heading towards Quarian fleet in unknown system.  
Assault Carrier **_**Divine Intervention; **_**Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.  
**Shortly after the meeting with the ancients, Fleetmaster Wattinr found himself leading a fleet of forty ships from the both his remaining fleet and parts of Harvest joint defence fleet to meet with the quarians.

"Fleetmaster, fifteen minutes away from the location of where quarian fleet is supposedly located at."

Also in that that time in orbit of Harvest, the remaining ships of his old fleet had been refitted with AIs units, "Very well, Fate. Tell the Quarian captain to come to the bridge, raise shields, prepare crew for possible hostile actions and prepare the envoys."

The AI identified as Fate nodded her head, as her human body was covered in a cloud of mist hiding her body from view. Meanwhile the Fleetmasters just reminisce at the meeting that took place with the quarian captain…

_**Flashback.  
**__**3000AD 26**__**th**__** August; 21:26:20; Utgard briefing rooms.  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr**_  
_The Fleetmaster, along with a few of the senior officer stationed over Harvest was having a small meeting about the quarian race, fortunately, without the interference if politicians' and the media, as they all directed their attention to the forerunners, the 'ancient' San Shyuums and their ancestors. _

_So when the quarian captain along with a few others finally arrived, they were, fortunately not hounded by camera drones, reporters and other what not which would not make a good impression for the NC._

"_I trust you have no problems getting here, Captain." Said the Fleetmaster, as they have agreed that he will do most of the talking._

"_I'm quite surprised that we were not hounded by the media, which is what happens to all new races that arrive on the citadel."_

"_Indeed, and you would have been if it hadn't been for the arrival of the Concordia Imperium…"_

"_Sorry?"_

"_The forerunners and their allies that is what they call themselves."_

_The quarian nodded nervously, "Right…But why have you called me here?"_

"_Simply put it, how are you going to get home?"_

_The quarian just stared at the Fleetmaster with a confused expression behind her helmet before smartly answering, "Huh?"_

"_Indeed…You do not have a ship with you firstly, and even if you do, there are no-" quickly glancing at the screen before him continued, "-'mass relays' for you to use. We are also not willing to part with any of our technology at the moment due to the fact your race is largely unknown to us and finally, I doubt you would want to live out the rest of your days here."_

_The quarian shifted uncomfortably as realization struck her and the Fleetmaster just sighed answering one of the un-asked options, being honest with the quarian "And before you ask, no, you will not be able to communicate with them without us knowing their general location, and from there it will only be a matter of time before we find them."_

"_Why are you telling me this?"_

_The Fleetmaster shrugged lightly, "There is no reason for us to deceive you. For you are not deemed an enemy of the Neo-covenant, and though not exactly an ally either, you and your people are on the good side of some of the more influential people within out government and High Command for your assistance against the Loyalists, even if it was only for your own survival."_

_The quarian sighed lightly before muttering something in her native tongue and sighing, "Let me talk it over with some of my officers, I will be back in a few hours."_

"_Very well, my fleet is ready whenever you are, captain."  
__**FLASHBACK END.**_

Exactly fifteen minutes later forty ships exited above the quarian fleet, immediately the Fleetmaster ordered a scan of the system and a second later he discovered two separate parties in the area as well another fleet of ships approximately a few light years away.  
"Open COMs to all channels."  
The sangheili operator made a slight motion with his hand a second later indicating that it was on, "This is Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr of the Assault Carrier _Divine Intervention_ of the Neo-covenant. The quarians are now under our temporary protection, any and all hostile actions against them, whether physical or verbal, will be dealt with accordingly."

**2164 CE; Migrant fleet/Citadel negotiation team: Inside Quarian's Liveship **_**Rayya**_**;  
Negotiation room.**  
As the meeting between the citadel diplomats and the conclave and the Admiralty board of the quarians, they were soon interrupted as a panic voice interrupted them. "Sensors showing forty unknown ships appeared out of nowhere! Keelah…That one is at least a quarter the size of the citadel itself…"

Despite the welcome interruption on the quarian part as the 'negotiations' were not going in their favour, the last comment made set everyone on edge.

Han'Gerrel vas Neema took the initiative as he was the first to regain his bearing, "Bridge! What is the situation?"

"They are holding position and have sent a fleet-wide message…Should I play it?"

"Play it…"

A moment later a low and calm voice came over the COMs to everyone present, including the citadel diplomats, "_This is Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr of the Assault Carrier: Divine Intervention, of the Neo-covenant. The quarians are now under our temporary protection, any and all hostile actions against them, whether physical or verbal, will be dealt with accordingly_."

Everyone was shocked as the message played, not so much that these aliens were going to help the quarians, but more so that they knew their language. Which in turn made them think how much more do they actually know?

"Maybe it's best right now that we return to our ships and see how things go from there."  
The turian diplomat agreed with his Asari counterpart, "Very well. But do not think this is over yet quarians, I don't know who or what they are, but know that we will be back."

As the diplomats was escorted to the hanger but a small team of marines, and despite the fact that all of them had their disagreements and a few had a severe dislike for one another, they had to all agree that it was good to see the citadel diplomats leave their ship.

"Now what?"

"I say we open communications to them."

"This could be a Geth trick for all we know!"

"If the Geths had a ship that was a quarter the size of the citadel I do think we would have all been dead already."

Than an argument, which in turn quickly degraded into a shouting match, between nearly all the officials in the room about whether or not to respond or just attempt to destroy them.**  
**

The only quarian who was not in the argument and patiently waiting for order to resume was Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib. But everyone patience has limits, and his was burnt up when six minutes later, when the shouting match only proved to intensify. Slowly inhaling, he than yelled at the top of his lungs in an authoritative voice, "ORDER!"

The effect was immediate as everyone quieted down and turned their attention to the admiral, while those who knew him the admiral to some degree was slightly surprised to what he just did, but none the less quieted down, "I have heard both sides of the argument…I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the ship heard it to some degree as well…"

Some ignored the jib, while others had the decency to look sheepish, "I suggest we find out more about this Neo-covenant before we jump to any conclusions, especially when their intentions towards us are seemingly peaceful for the time being. Besides, we can't afford to lose any ships if unnecessary and they could be powerful allies to have."

Everyone agreed with the admiral's statement, so all the admirals headed towards the bridge to make contact with the newcomers.

As soon as they entered the bridge, they found the captain of the _Rayya_ talking to the hologram of an alien and surprisingly a quarian as well.

"Greeting admirals, I am Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr and I have been sent by the leaders of the neo-covenant to make peace and open negotiations with you and your race."

The admirals nodded, "And why have you decided to make peace with us? I mean you know nothing of us and we know nothing of you."

"Simple, your captain and her warriors assisted us in defending a location from enemies. Even if we hadn't have met than, we would of eventually found you and would have still taken a similar course of action."  
"I see…Captain, may you please identify yourself?"

"Lia'Nara Vas Orib, sir."

"The same one commanding the scout ship that reported to being pursued pirates?"

"Yes sir…I was the one that ordered opening of a dormant relay on the edge of Alliance space to escape the pirates and probably the reason why the citadel is here at the moment…"

Before the admiral could respond the Fleetmaster interrupted him, "Citadel officials have requested communication and I have allowed them to join for the time being."

A second later the same turian and Asari diplomats from earlier appeared on the quarian's screen and the Fleetmaster addressed them directly, "What is it do you want citadel?"

The officials were shocked, "How do you know about us?"

"I'm sure if you speak with your superiors you would know, but back to the reason why we are here. We request that you allow our diplomats to board one of your ships, or if you wish, you may board my ship to begin peace negotiations."

The citadel diplomats looked in shocked at the alien as the turian opened his mouth,

"WHAT! Did you know what sort of plague the quarians released upon this galaxy?!"

"Yes, the covenant knows about the Geth and their rebellion along with how the citadel abandoned them and left them for dead along with many other things about you and your respective races..."

"Impossible! How can you obtain said information if we have never even seen you before?! Our ships have the most advanced , firewalls and anti-hacking software in the known galaxy!"

"We have our ways..." said the Fleetmaster cryptically.

The turian growled lowly at the lack of information gained, "And after you know all that, than why do you still want to help them?"

"The collective races of the covenant have been through some very harsh and trying times and we have analysed all the information we have gathered on the quarians in great detail before making our decision. Despite the Geth turning on their creators, they had their reasons to do so."

Both Quarian admiralty and Citadel diplomats were shocked as the Fleetmaster said that,

"What do you mean the Geth had their 'reasons' to attack us? They were already planning to rebel as it's, we just took the initiative and attacked first!"

"And what evidence did you have that showed the Geth were planning to rebel?"

"They began to question their existence and why they served us and as a result they would have eventually rebelled against us!"

"That only showed that the Geth was beginning to or already has gain sentience and the question they asked could easily be related to the same ones that a child ask their parents or guardians."

"Even if that is true, the Geth is still a threat to the galaxy as a whole as synthetics have no need for us organics to function and wouldn't care if they were to wipe every single organic being off of this galaxy if failing to subdue us under their control!"

The Fleetmaster sighed tiredly; it would have been easier if JOCOM and the council hadn't added AIs to their long list of 'things not to mention before some sort of agreement was made', but none the less he persisted, "And what reason would they have to do that? Let me ask you a question. If I had arrived in this system with the intention of war and committing genocide against your fellow races, what would you have done? You obviously would have retaliated for the continual existence of your race so that you, the things you hold dear and your children could live to see a future, even if it meant sacrificing everything to do so. This is the same for any sentience being, including the Geth. I will admit that I do not know what your war against the Geth was like, but from my home, we know what being on the receiving end of genocide is like, and this is a reason why I am here in the first place. Like I have said before, we have read of the quarian plight, and despite the considering the start of the Quarian-Geth war as the result of the quarian fault as they have engaged the Geth in opened hostilities first with only rumours of rebellions at best. But we are not here to discuss who is at fault for the war. We are here to negotiate peace with the quarians and nothing more. Also know that you would hear from us in the near future, citadel."

"Very well, but know that you are making a huge mistake and that we, the citadel races, would not stand for you helping the quarians out of their punishment." Stated the turian with an air of finality as he knew he couldn't convince the alien otherwise.

The Fleetmaster wanted to retort, but controlled himself as he didn't wish to waste any more time than he already had, while the quarian admirals had similar thoughts as the citadel diplomats disconnected from the channels as their ships entered FTL.

"Now, since their gone, I will ask again, where would you like the negotiations to take place?"

The admirals glanced at each other from behind their helmets, "You may come aboard the _Rayya_ as we already have a negotiation room set up from earlier."

"Very well, we will be arriving in ten minutes with the diplomats and their escorts along with the rest of the quarians with us. Is that acceptable?"

"That is acceptable Fleetmaster. Till then."

"Till than"

With that the connection cut from both ships.

**Eight minutes later. Hanger of quarian Liveship **_**'Rayya'.**_  
As the olive green coloured dropships of sangheili design entered the hanger followed by ten others of similar design. They floated above the hanger and a blue beam emitted from the underside of it and quarians glided down one by one, making the quarians in the hanger whisper to one another about the technology these aliens possessed and as the dropships finished unloading the quarians they headed back towards the assault carrier, while the last ship landed on the floor as the side hatches opened up and unloaded six humanoid clad in black armour and armed with what resembled assault rifles, closely followed by two figures in extremely fancy armour wielding what seemed like spears that appeared to be the same race as the Fleetmaster.

"Those in aliens in black armour resemble humans or Asaris…" whispered a quarian to another who stood near the admirals.

"Because they are human, if you can believe that…"  
Everyone turned to Lia and Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh spoke to her, "Can you tell us more about them?"

Before Lia could answer the same diplomat that negotiated with the forerunners, along with the rest of the diplomats and escorts in tow interrupted them, "Greetings I am the representative for the UEG in the Neo-covenant, while those who are with me are representing their respective races." He stuck his hand out, and the admirals who were vaguely familiar with the customs and mannerisms of the humans from the System Alliance shook it as they introduced themselves.

"Now, Admirals, let get this show on the road shall we?" said the human diplomat with a smile.

Said quarian admirals just looked confused at the expression before the sangheili diplomat sighed, "He meant that we should begin the negotiations'."

The quarian admirals nodded, still slightly confused about the saying, but still headed to the negotiation rooms.

**Six hours later in negotiation room of the **_**Rayya**_**.  
**The peace negotiations with the quarians were going well until they mentioned that the UEG, and by extension, the Neo-covenant as a whole had been using AIs for close to a millennia. There were obviously mixed responses, from outright hostility to curiosity of how they have stopped their AIs from turning against their makers. The Neo-covenant just responded by saying: 'That despite having internal counter measures already programmed into them, the neo-covenant recognize that all AIs are sentient and are given the rights that all sentient should have, not just reserved for 'organics'.'

The entire quarian leadership was shocked at this revelation, but couldn't argue back as they have nothing to argue against with them, except for the Geth that they already knew about.

By the end of the meeting, a peace treaty was achieved, the covenant gained significantly more information about the citadel and the quarians was offered an alliance with the covenant to which the quarians responded to which they need to discuss in further details among themselves.

"So we will be expecting an answer from the quarians in about a week or two time."

"That is correct ambassador."

"Alright than, I guess our job here is done, I bid you all a good day."

With that the diplomats of the covenant left the room and were led back to the hanger while the meeting room was in silence as everyone contemplating of what just happened.

**3000AD 27****th**** August, 09:52:25;  
Assault Carrier: **_**Divine Intervention. **_**  
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr**  
Voro was happy as he read how well the meeting went, despite the slight hiccup with the AIs issue, but non-the less, it went better than most would expect and the covenant stands to gain another race that could provide them a huge insight and understanding into citadel technology that could be used against them if they ever turned hostile. Right now he had left a five of their larger ships with the quarian fleet to provide a deterrent to the citadel if they tried anything, while the rest of the fleet headed back to Harvest to prepare to meet with the citadel.

**2164 CE; Migrant fleet, one day after the meeting with the covenant.  
Captain Lia'Nara Vas Orib.  
**"Captain, do you know why you have been called here?"  
Lia just shook her head though she figured that it was because of something about opening a mass relay, "I assume because of the fact that I opened a dormant relay?"

"We have already discussed that earlier and your punishment will forty-eight hours labour in _Rayya_ engineering deck, but no, that not the reason why you are here. The main reason why you are here is to provide us with what you know about the Neo-covenant."

Lia was mildly surprised at the punishment as she expected a much harsher one, but who was she to disregard such a light punishment to what could have been unleashed upon the migrant fleet by the citadel.

"What would you like to know? But I do not know much about them in terms of details, just the very basics of what I saw and what they told me."  
The admiralty board nodded and began firing question after questions about everything from their society and culture to their weapons and AIs, particularly about their AIs.

Some were answered in great detail, mainly about her and her crew's treatment by the covenant and cultures, while others were just the very basics, such as that of weapons and ship classes and most were just best guesses at best, such as AI, technology and military capabilities.

The admirals than began to talk quietly among themselves for a short while before turning back to the captain, "You may now leave if you wish."

"Yes Admirals."

As she walked out the room and headed to no particular direction, she couldn't help but feel a huge change was coming, but that is to be expected when encountering to civilizations that makes the citadel races look like mere infants in terms of technology.

**Year: 2164 CE  
Citadel: Council chambers. Two days after the citadel diplomats were 'forced' to leave the migrant fleet. **  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE COVENANT FORCED YOU TO LEAVE!?"

"Councillor, please, they came with a fleet of forty warships, with every single one of their ships being the size of a cruiser, a dreadnaught or larger and with the intention of 'protecting' the quarians from us. If we had called the fleet in it would have been seen as a hostile move by us and most likely would have started a war if we engaged." Stated the turian to the councillor in half-truth, also playing along was the Asari diplomat who said nothing to contradict it.

Sparatus kept quiet as he had already read the reports from earlier, but he couldn't help but fume in rage at how these upstarts had the galls to protect the vagrants, even after they told them what the quarians did.

Tevos just merely nodded as thoughts and plans filled her head before addressing the two diplomats that met with the quarians, "Thank you for the reports, you may now leave."

They bowed slightly as they left the council chambers.

The council room was quiet for a few minutes as they each contemplated on what would happen to them if there was another galactic power out there capable of challenging them and each had a different reaction, Valern was slightly afraid and Tevos was slightly worried of how this might upset the balance of power while Sparatus was angry.

"I propose that we send diplomats to the covenant and invite them to join the citadel, al see if they are willing to make some sort of treaty before slowly annexing them in."

Sparatus just looked at the Asari councillor with disagreement, "They humiliated us, Tevos! We should show them who they are dealing with! Show them our might so that they will at least think twice before attacking! And look at their ships and how they battle!"

Sparatus than pulled up the image of the ring world with large explosions dotting the distance, "Anyone who builds ships like that is surely an incredibly aggressive species like the Krogans or Rachnis."

"Exactly Sparatus! Look at their ships! They make ours look like toys in comparison!"

"And they don't use element zero, so all in all, we should easily be able to overwhelm their fleets with pure numbers alone! Surely their fleets are small in comparison." Shouted Sparatus, his judgement still a bit clouded from his anger and pride.

Valern then spoke up, "But what if they are larger than what we believe?"

"Sorry?"

"Everything we are talking about right now is mainly based on assumptions and most of which, have little to no evidence to back up. Sorry Sparatus, even though if I would prefer to pacify such species, we simply do not know enough about them, and to wage or even suggest waging war with little to no information about the enemy is very foolish thing to do. So I have to second Tevos motion on sending diplomats in for the time being."

Tevos was glad that blood won't be spilt unnecessarily, while Sparatus brooded slightly, "Fine, but you will regret not pacifying them first."

Before anyone of the councillors could respond to Spartacus, the COM loudly blared over the room, "LARGE UNKNOWN SHIPS HAVE APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE AND HEADING TOWARDS THE CITADEL!"

"Put it on screen operator!"

Instantly an image of a mix of eight green and grey coloured ships appeared on their screens as they recognized them as covenant ships, surrounding a ship in the centre of the formation, but what mainly caught their attention was the sleek and angular ships of what they recognized as 'forerunner' ships from the reports given to them by Vandus, with the largest two equalling the citadel in terms of length while the smallest was a tenth of its size.

"By the goddess…Those two forerunner ships are just as large as the citadel…" stated Tevos as she read the information from the screen in front of her.

"And most of their ships exceed the size of _Destiny Ascension_…Don't tell me they already made an alliance with each other…"

"I don't think so Valern…No one should be able to come to an agreement that quickly…"

"Then why did they come together than?"

The Asari councillor kept quiet as she didn't have an answer for that, while Sparatus calmly spoke up, "Operator, ready the citadel fleet for combat...But do not fire unless they fire first…" The last part of the order wounded the turian pride of his species having the biggest military in the entire citadel space slightly bending to the will of these new aliens because of the size of their ships, after all, despite his many flaws, the councillor wasn't stupid, or at the very least, wasn't stupid when not angry, and taking on ships the size of theirs will yield unacceptable casualties, add to the fact that they haven't opened fired yet and stopped a fair distance away.

Suddenly the console in front of them beeped as the citadel control centre contacted the councillors, "Councillors, I apologize for interrupting, but they have requested communications with us, should I grant them permission?"

Before the Turian and the Salarian could respond, Tevos beat them to it, "Yes, patch them through straight to us, but keep cyber warfare security at high alert."

"Yes councillor."

A moment later two holograms appeared in front of them, one that resembled a human and Asari encased in full body armour, helmet included, and the other also in armour of some sort but seemed lighter than the other one and had four mandibles with an open jaw, four fingers and double jointed legs.

"Are you the leaders of the citadel?"

"That we are. What is your reason for bringing such ships into citadel space?"

"They are merely escorts for our respective diplomats and I request, on behalf of the Neo-covenant to allow our diplomats and their escorts to board your station and begin preliminary peace negotiations."

"And I for the Imperium…"

The councillors glanced at each other and Tevos spoke up a second later, "Very well, you may bring an escort of four soldiers per diplomat."

The two silently nodded as they disconnected from the citadel networks and everyone was relatively happy that nothing majored occurred while Sparatus stared in jealousy and anger at their ships, anger for his species wounded pride. But none the less, they would join the citadel like the many others species before them and the power balance would return back to normal, this made the councillors happy as they didn't have to worry about another galactic government disrupting the peace, especially Sparatus, where he would immediately place a limit of the size of their military before taking their technology for the Turians and improving their own military to the point where they would go unchallenged. But unfortunately for the citadel council, they had another thing coming and Sparatus was going to learn a new lesson. Never anger a civilization that can wipe your one out in less than a month if they tried.

* * *

_"What is bigger one army or three different armies? Don't know? One army is bigger…Surprised? I'm not, after all, one army, united as one, fighting as one, and for one purpose is a fair fight for a thousand smaller armies fighting for their individual gain…_

_I can still see that you all want proof…Very well than, take a look at the flood wars, when the first flood war broke out, there were essentially three different powers, the forerunner Ecumene at the top, not far behind was the Human Ascendency and finally their allies the San Shyuum empire…When the flood came, the humans was the first to fight it along with the San Shyuums…They were allies, but their goals differ, with humanity fighting for the mantle of responsibility and the San Shyuum wanting to save themselves, their allies and charges. This in turn led to a…rift…if you will when fighting, rendering engagement with the enemy less efficient and effective with two differing views, which ultimately led the humans into forerunner territory and the forerunner-human war began, which would not have happened if relation between the two powers were on better terms and not on a cold war, which in turn would lead the forerunners themselves into the war and more effectively combating the parasite, perhaps even saving the galaxy from a fate which it now find itself..._

_Next is the forerunner-flood war. Despite initially losing the war on all fronts and being hopelessly outnumbered. When the humans and the San Shyuums joined the war with purpose and intent the same as the forerunners, pledging their number, resources and knowledge to the cause as well as their…specialities, with the San Shyuum mastery in logistics and support due to their bodies 'fragility' and the humans mastery in unconventional warfare, brought over when the forerunners were still enemies to the humans and created to effectively combat the forerunners larger and equally skilled armies. When combined with the forerunners tactics, it all…just clicked together, if you will, into one well-oiled war-machine that managed to combat the parasite into a standstill from what should be a crushing defeat…"  
__**-Lecture at 'Dusk' Imperium Military Academy of Science and War on 'Legacy'.**_

* * *

**Interfacing with Terminal…**

**Initiating handshake protocols…**  
**…User Confirmed…**  
**Granted access to requested data…**  
**Initializing…**

**…**  
**Displaying…**

**The Concordia Imperium history.  
Section 1.01: The formation of the Imperium.**

The Concordia Imperium was created during the Race Supremacy War, which fractured all three powers into many smaller factions (See Race Supremacy War for more details), initiated a century after the ending of the forerunner-flood war by those who still held a grudge on the other race/s. Initially the Imperium was initially created as a safe-haven for those caught in the crossfire and did not wish to fight, nor wished to support one of the three warring factions.

It wasn't long before the Imperium found itself a target due to the high amount of refugees fleeing as well as defectors, unfortunately at the time, the Imperium lacked suitable ground forces, despite having a significantly powerful navy, due to the fact that fighting the parasite on the ground is neigh on suicide, hence more are spent on the Navy, with funding that was meant for the army reduced to keeping garrisons on planet near large population centres to delay flood advances while non-combatants fled, as well as only elite infantries and operatives. This proved to be problematic issue as orbital bombardment tactics usually employed during the forerunner-human wars and flood wars caused unnecessary collateral damage to non-combatants and prisoners, while any naval engagement proved risky due to enemy boarding parties and the almost insufficient force defending smaller ships.

In response, Imperium High Supreme Commanders Crepusculum, First Light of a New Dawn and Lord of Admirals Venator created 'the Conclave', a military sub-division under the Navy, Army and Air force, recruiting experienced Veterans from each of the three branches before putting them through harsher training, allowing operatives to learn from all three main branches, before being further augmented to fit their new line of duty better; intelligence gathering, counter offensive operations and unconventional warfare.

The Conclave initial operations were a huge success, buying much time for the Imperium to somewhat recover from countless raids and strengthen their defences as well as train an Army.

Two decades after the creation of the Conclave, the Imperium was able to build up their forces to the point that it matched their enemies in numbers, organization and training. From this point, the Imperium would begin their own offensives to put down 'rebels', but proved much harder to put down after having a significant amount of time to organize and entrenched on every location they control.

Eventually, five centuries later and with the total casualties within the low billions, did the war finally end when the last 'rebel' base was finally found in an asteroid and destroyed, killing their last 'official' leader. By now, the Imperium was already rebuilding, and with the war ended, a new civilization began on the foundations of an old one, and officially, hence the Concordia Imperium was created.

To this day, the Imperium have been building, advancing and growing more powerful, and long surpassed the individual empires that were created by the three races, and have vowed never to end up in the very same situation that they each found themselves at when facing the parasite.

* * *

**R&R. **

**Well, here is the end of this chapter after a few month of waiting, personally I dread writing the next one as I kind of dislike writing first contact as it can only go three ways, incredibly badly, ass kissingly good or that boring neutral..Though I will have the next chapter up...Don't know when though. **

**I must really impress the fact that I really DO NOT KNOW when the next update will be after this as there are things in life than writing fanfic (though personally I wouldn't mind if I could make a living out of writing fics as an 'amateur' writer.). So this will be my last update for a while, though I am not abandoning this story and might go back and change certain things within previous chapters if I have time such as grammar and tech specifics.**


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